Food Storage and Trash Bags - US - January 2015
Scope and Themes
 
What you need to know
Total US sales of food storage and trash bag products in 2014 are $8 billion, an 8% sales increase from sales observed in 2009. Category growth in the coming years will be driven by consumers’ continued reliance on food storage products for storing food/ingredients and meal preparation tasks and on trash bags for home trash management and disposal.

New product innovations could boost category sales and help brands better compete against private label. The strongest opportunity for food storage brands is to develop food storage containers and bags that help consumers to better monitor how fresh their food is. For trash bags, product innovation should be focused on delivering enhanced odor control benefits, such as trash bags designed to contain and eliminate specific types of unpleasant odors.

This report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Food Storage – US, February 2014, as well as previous reports with this same title in January 2013, April 2011, April 2010, May 2004, and February 2002. Trash bags have been added to this report starting in 2015.

Definition
Mintel defines the US food storage and trash bag market as consisting of the following product categories:

●	Plastic food storage bags
●	Aluminum foil
●	Plastic wrap
●	Wax paper and parchment paper
●	Food storage containers*
●	Trash bags – Includes kitchen trash bags, black trash bags, and small trash bags designed for bathroom or smaller trash cans.

*Sales figures from this segment include both food storage and household storage due to data constraints.

Value figures throughout this report are at rsp (retail selling prices) excluding sales tax unless otherwise stated.

Data sources
Sales data
Market Size and Forecast and Segment Performance – Total retail sales based on Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews; US Census Bureau, Economic Census; HomeWorld Business, "2013 Housewares Census;" forecast developed by Mintel.

Retail Channels – Based on Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews; US Census Bureau, Economic Census; HomeWorld Business, "2013 Housewares Census;" except supermarket and other MULO channels sales, which are based on Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews

Leading Companies and Brand Share sections – Based on MULO sales data from Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews. MULO is defined as Multi Outlet, representative of the following channels: Total US Grocery, Mass, Total US Drug, Total Walmart, Dollar, Military, and Club. Note that the values shown in this section differ from the Market Size and Forecast and Segment Performance sections of this report. Leading Companies and Brand Share sales data encompasses only sales through MULO channels, while Market Size and Forecast and Segment Performance sales cover the entire retail market.

Consumer survey data
For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through GMI to explore consumers’ use of and attitudes toward food storage and trash bag products. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis, and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in October 2014 among a sample of 2,000 adults aged 18+ with access to the internet.

Mintel selects survey respondents by gender, age, household income, and region so that they are proportionally representative of the US adult population using the internet. Mintel also slightly oversamples, relative to the population, respondents that are Hispanic or Black to ensure an adequate representation of these groups in our survey results and to allow for more precise parameter estimates from our reported findings. Please note that Mintel surveys are conducted online and in English only. Hispanics who are not online and/or do not speak English are not included in the survey results.

Mintel has also analyzed data from Experian Marketing Services, using the Simmons NCS (National Consumer Study), and the Simmons NHCS (National Hispanic Consumer Study). The NHCS was carried out during April 2013-June 2014, and the results are based on the sample of 20,695 adults aged 18+, with results weighted to represent the US adult population.

While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (White, Black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.

Abbreviations and terms
Abbreviations
The following is a list of abbreviations used in this report:

BPA 	Bisphenol A	
BSA 	Bisphenol S	
CPI 	Consumer Price Index	
FDA 	US Food and Drug Administration	
Rsp 	Retail selling price	

Terms
Generations are also discussed within this report, and they are defined as:

World War II/Swing Generations 	Members of the WWII generation were born in 1932 or before and are aged 83 or older in 2015. Members of the Swing Generation were born between 1933 and 1945 and are aged 70-82 in 2015.	
Baby Boomers 	The generation born between 1946 and 1964. In 2015, Baby Boomers are between the ages of 51 and 69.	
Generation X 	The generation born between 1965 and 1976. In 2015, Gen Xers are between the ages of 39 and 50.	
Millennials* 	The generation born between 1977 and 1994. In 2015, Millennials are between the ages of 21 and 38.	
iGeneration 	The generation born between 1995 and 2007. In 2015, iGens are between the ages of 8 and 20.	
Emerging Generation 	The newest generation began in 2008 as the annual number of births declined sharply with the recession. In 2015 members of this as-yet unnamed generation are younger than age 8.	

* also known as Generation Y

In order to provide an inflation-adjusted price value for markets, Mintel uses the CPI to deflate current prices. The CPI is defined as follows:

CPI 	The Consumer Price Index is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.
The CPI and its components are typically used to adjust other economic series for price changes and to translate these series into inflation-free dollars. Examples of series adjusted by the CPI include retail sales, hourly and weekly earnings, and components of the national income and product accounts. In addition, and in Mintel reports, the CPI is used as a deflator of the value of the consumer’s dollar to find its purchasing power. The purchasing power of the consumer’s dollar measures the change in the value to the consumer of goods and services that a dollar will buy at different dates.
The CPI is generally the best measure for adjusting payments to consumers when the intent is to allow consumers to purchase, at today’s prices, a market basket of goods and services equivalent to one that they could purchase in an earlier period. It is also the best measure to use to translate retail sales into real or inflation-free dollars.
Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics definition.