Table of Contents
Overview
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- What you need to know
- Products covered in this Report
Executive Summary
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- The market
- Inflation expected for the market
- Government sets new salt reduction targets
- Consumer lifestyle trends could discourage sales
- Companies and brands
- Private label continues to dominate launches
- Little health-led innovation in 2016
- Continued growth for high-protein and gluten-free claims
- Retailers look to compete with recipe box subscription schemes
- Overall advertising spend rises in 2016
- Retailers remain dominant in advertising, with a focus on quality
- The consumer
- 89% eat ready meals or RTCs, a third eat chilled at least weekly
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- Figure 1: Usage frequency for ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, by type, March 2017
- Families are the key users
- Favourite dish is the primary deciding factor
- New twists and in-store sampling could help to expand users’ limited repertoires
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- Figure 2: Ready meal buying factors, March 2017
- Prepared meals at risk if incomes come under pressure, but premium versions could benefit
- Influence of health considerations offers opportunities for healthier variants
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- Figure 3: Behaviours relating to ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, March 2017
- Ethical claims could be a differentiator
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- Figure 4: Attitudes towards ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, March 2017
- Low quality rating for ready meals suggests negative perceptions still linger
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- Figure 5: Perceptions of selected types of prepared meals as high quality, March 2017
- What we think
Issues and Insights
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- Regular innovation could help premium varieties to succeed even as incomes come under pressure
- The facts
- The implications
- Scope for expansion in healthier ready meals
- The facts
- The implications
- Ethical claims offer promising means to stand out
- The facts
- The implications
The Market – What You Need to Know
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- Inflation expected for the market
- Government sets new salt reduction targets
- Consumer lifestyle trends could discourage sales
Market Drivers
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- Inflation expected to put pressure on producers’ margins
- Prepared meals at risk if incomes come under pressure
- Opportunities remain for premium products as alternative to dining out
- Government sets targets for industry to further reduce salt
- EFSA rules make it difficult to make a low-salt claim
- Consumer lifestyle trends could discourage sales
- Potential competition from recipe box delivery services
Companies and Brands – What You Need to Know
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- Private label continues to dominate launches
- Little health-led innovation in 2016
- Continued growth for high-protein and gluten-free claims
- Retailers look to compete with recipe box subscription schemes
- Overall advertising spend rises in 2016
- Retailers remain dominant in advertising, with a focus on quality
Launch Activity and Innovation
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- Private label continues to dominate launches
- Asda and Tesco tap into world food trends
- Smaller retailers also step up activity
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- Figure 6: New product launches in the UK prepared meals market, by private label and brands, 2013-17
- Little movement on health claims in 2016
- Conflicting consumer views on health present a challenge and an opportunity
- Supermarkets extend and relaunch diet ranges in 2017
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- Figure 7: New product launches in the UK prepared meals market, by top 20 claims (sorted by 2016), 2013-17
- Continued growth in high protein
- Canned food brands release high-protein lunch pots and pouches
- No-allergen claims rise in 2016
- Five-a-day claims rise as companies seek to latch onto vegetables’ health associations
- Supermarkets emphasise ingredient provenance as they build up their premium ranges
- Premium ingredients and restaurant-inspired descriptions used to build associations with fine dining
- Retailers look to up competition with recipe box schemes
- Weight Watchers offers subscription service for keen dieters
- Retailers and brands explore Brazilian flavours to capitalise on Olympics
Advertising and Marketing Activity
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- Wiltshire Farm Foods remains the largest advertiser amid a rise in overall spending
- Pushing closeness to homemade foods
- Promoting its international flavours
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- Figure 8: Total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, 2013-17
- Retailers put the focus on quality
- M&S promotes feel-good aspects of its diet meals
- Morrisons highlights its in-store preparation
- Waitrose emphasises ingredient provenance
- Iceland promotes its authentic flavours
- Slimming World range portrayed as ideal for time-pressed healthy eaters
- Spar puts particular emphasis on ready meals’ time-saving attributes
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
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- 89% eat ready meals or RTCs, a third eat chilled at least weekly
- Families are the key users
- Favourite dish is the primary deciding factor
- New twists and in-store sampling could help to expand users’ limited repertoires
- Prepared meals at risk if incomes come under pressure, but premium versions could benefit
- Influence of health considerations offers opportunities for healthier variants
- Ethical claims could be a differentiator
- Low quality rating for ready meals suggests negative perceptions still linger
Usage of Ready Meals and Ready-to-Cook Foods
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- A third eat chilled ready meals once a week or more
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- Figure 9: Usage frequency for ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, by type, March 2017
- Families are key users of ready meals…
- …as are under-25s
- Product labelling helps to boost RTC usage frequency
- Frozen ready meals’ lower usage frequency largely stems from the limitations of the frozen aisle
- Meal deals and in-store positioning could help to encourage more frequent usage
Ready Meal Eating Habits
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- Most users microwave, but over a third oven cook
- Promoting on-hob heating could help some dishes to be seen as closer to their homemade versions
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- Figure 10: How ready meals are typically heated, March 2017
- Most users eat ready meals from a separate plate or bowl
- Safe handling features could cater for those eating straight from the container
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- Figure 11: How ready meals are typically eaten, March 2017
Ready Meal Buying Factors
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- A favourite dish trumps price for ready meal buyers
- New twists and in-store sampling could persuade consumers to expand their limited repertoires
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- Figure 12: Ready meal buying factors, March 2017
- Opportunities for expansion in healthier options
- Products with high vegetable content should put this front and centre
Behaviours Relating to Ready Meals and Ready-to-Cook Foods
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- Prepared meals are vulnerable if incomes come under pressure, but opportunities for premium products
- Premium ranges will need to keep innovating
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- Figure 13: Behaviours relating to ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, March 2017
- Over half of eaters/buyers are influenced by health considerations
- Healthier variants on classic dishes have strong appeal
- Opportunities for expansion in healthy children’s meals
- Scope for baby food brands to extend their offering to older children
Attitudes towards Ready Meals and Ready-to-Cook Foods
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- Ethical options have wide appeal
- Opportunities for products putting animal welfare credentials front and centre
- Charity pledges appeal most to under-25s
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- Figure 14: Attitudes towards ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, March 2017
- Premium products should be particularly well placed to benefit from interest in organic
- Resealable packets appeal particularly to parents
Qualities Associated with Selected Types of Prepared Meals
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- Few see any type of prepared meal as offering high quality
- Products using ‘imperfect’ ingredients could be promoted as reducing food waste
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- Figure 15: Qualities associated with selected types of prepared meals, March 2017
- Image of ready meals as processed means they could lose out from ‘clean living’ trends
- Focus on ingredients could help to create a more ‘natural’ image
- ‘Deconstructed’ versions could help prepared meals to be seen as closer to home cooking
- Consumer indifference suggests need for frozen foods to be marketed on taste grounds
Appendix – Data Sources, Abbreviations and Supporting Information
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- Abbreviations
- Consumer research methodology
Appendix – Launch Activity and Innovation
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- Figure 16: New product launches in the UK prepared meals market 2013-17, by company (sorted by 2016)
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