U.S. consumer goods manufacturers and retailers find growth across the store in $177 billion fresh market

New York, NY, June 13, 2018 –The latest Total Consumer Report from Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN), which leverages the company’s new Total Food View, shows that fresh categories within the U.S. are driving nearly 49% of all dollar growth across the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brick-and-mortar landscape. In fact, within the last year, fresh and perishable foods generated more than $177 billion in sales—marking a sizable growth opportunity for many FMCG marketers who may be operating with a siloed and non-holistic view of their market.

In a consumer environment where shoppers have become aisle agnostic and fresh has grown to become a hotbed of opportunity, Nielsen has brought to market a Total Food View for its FMCG and retail clients. Through the new lens of Nielsen’s Total Food View, for the first time, companies gain visibility into in-store competition and opportunities inclusive of UPC and fresh random-weight products beyond the bounds of a specific category or aisle.  Today, retailers and manufacturers have the opportunity to realign their approach based on how consumers experience their grocery shopping occasions, as total food shoppers.

With an inclusive picture of the entire store from Nielsen’s Total Food View, companies can unlock and analyze the true potential across bakery, deli, produce, seafood, and meat departments. Leveraging the industry’s highest quality and broadest measurement of fresh available in the U.S., companies will be able to better understand the full dynamics of sales trends and the ripple effects that occur among products or brands across the store. Nielsen’s Total Food View is integrated into Nielsen’s Answers on Demand platform for fast delivery, enabling users to act on market conditions with speed and data-driven accuracy.

“I learned the importance of fresh firsthand while working in retail. Fresh plays a crucial role in driving consumer traffic and loyalty,” said John Tavolieri, President of U.S. FMCG and Retail and Chief Technology and Operations Officer. “To win shoppers over, fresh has to be integral to a broader, more connected total store approach that goes beyond category management. With a Total Food View, marketers can capitalize on adjacencies, reveal unseen competition, and make cross category connections to uncover business blind spots—enabling the ability to better meet the demands of today’s highly selective and savvy consumers who are looking to lead healthier lives.”

Bringing light to a few grocery blindspots:

According to the latest Total Consumer Report (June 2018) referencing Nielsen Total Food View data:

E-commerce is still maturing within food and beverage, fresh perishables are an opportunity in stores today. One year after the merging of Amazon and Whole Foods, e-commerce within grocry continues to grow, but is still maturating. In the past year, online food and beverage sales represented 13% of the overall dollar volume seen online. While e-commerce will be a bright opportunity for the future, marketers looking for growth opportunities today shouldn’t be blind to the opportunities living in the perimeter of the store. Fresh and perishable foods generated sales nearly 14 times as high as all online food and beverage sales this year.

On-the-go fresh produce fails to keep pace with clean snacking. Although Americans would rank eating more fruits and vegetables as the top factor for healthy eating, they’re not flocking to on-the-go fresh produce offerings as much as they are to other snack options. On-the-go fresh produce—pre-cut produce that has been portioned intentionally for snacking purposes—declined by nearly 2% in dollars and 6% in unit volume over the last year. On the flip side, salty snacks are proof that consumers are seeking indulgence in their snacking purchases too, as sales grew nearly $1 billion year-over-year. However, indulgences can still be seen as “clean” to health-conscious consumers. In fact, clean label products represented over one-third (35%) of salty snack dollars in the past year. Retailers and manufacturers that can demonstrate transparency through their labelling can capitalize on the wave of consumer interest around “responsible” snacking. Consumers do have a sweet tooth, but the best way to capitalize on it is through the sweet spot of appealing to the smart snackers of today.

In the battle of burgers, frozen is still winning, but fresh is catching up; Alternative protein growth remains strong. Frozen patties are still the norm in the burger category, as frozen meat-based burgers have seen 2% dollar growth from last year. Looking at growth rates across the store, however, this dynamic may be shifting. Fresh meat burger patties (+8%) and prepared burgers from the deli section (+15%) are both growing and asserting their importance to the future of the category. For marketers within the burger category—growth opportunities are prominent within the alternative protein sector, and this could be a new area of focus to reinvigorate the frozen burger space. Within the past year, sales of alternative-protein burgers are experiencing dollar sales growth of nearly 21%. That said, alternative-protein burgers represent just 6% of the overall burger category. Despite this, frozen alternative-protein burgers grew 17% year-over-year, which highlights an area for potential expansion.

Click here for additional information of Nielsen’s Total Food View.

*Note: References to “fresh” or “perishable” foods encompass the inclusive view of UPC-coded and non-UPC products found throughout the store, but most predominantly in the produce, bakery, deli, meat and seafood departments.

About Nielsen

Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global measurement and data analytics company that provides the most complete and trusted view available of consumers and markets worldwide. Our approach marries proprietary Nielsen data with other data sources to help clients around the world understand what’s happening now, what’s happening next, and how to best act on this knowledge. For more than 90 years Nielsen has provided data and analytics based on scientific rigor and innovation, continually developing new ways to answer the most important questions facing the media, advertising, retail, and fast-moving consumer goods industries. An S&P 500 company, Nielsen has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.