Shopper Insights Study: Value, Health and Convenience as Key Drivers for Frozen Food Sales
Acosta, a global integrated sales and marketing services provider, released its new Frozen Food Trends & Insights study in conjunction with this week’s National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Convention.
With price top of mind for consumers, frozen food sales have exceeded $70 billion over the past year, according to NielsenIQ – a 7.6% increase over 2021, and 31% increase over 2019 pre-pandemic sales. According to the research, there are three key drivers for consumers’ frozen food purchases this year: value, convenience and healthy options. Comfort weighs in as an ancillary driver to purchase.
“Two years ago, our research attributed frozen food sales growth predominantly to the pandemic and the resulting evolution of consumer demand with more people cooking at home,” said Kathy Risch, SVP, Consumer Insights and Trends at Acosta. “Today, even as the average unit price for frozen products has risen 15% over 2021, consumers continue to select frozen as a key part of their food shopping experience,” she stated. “We’ve found that criteria for purchase are balanced between the requirements of affordability and value, healthy choices that meet dietary or lifestyle needs, convenience of preparation and a bit of comfort.”