Poultry Business has teamed up with market research firm Kantar to provide PB’s readers with detailed insight and analysis into the retail market for eggs and poultry. We take a look at what has been driving sales in supermarkets in the past 12 weeks.
By Shivam Hemnani, Kantar analyst
Over the last 12 weeks, the total eggs category has grown by +2.8% versus last year. This was driven by a substantial increase in organic eggs (+62.4%) – and through penetration and volume growth, organic eggs’ market share has increased from 2.9% to 4.6% this period. In addition, free-range eggs continued to do well, growing by +4.3% as shoppers bought more frequently. In contrast, barn eggs saw a decline this period as value dropped by -9.2% due to much fewer shoppers buying into the sub-category.
Average egg prices saw a -1.1% decline over the period, with most of the price decline coming from organic (-7.6%) and free-range (-5.1%) eggs. Barn eggs also saw average price decline, but this was very insignificant.
Total category promotions have grown. Both organic and free-range eggs benefited from a very large increase in total price reduction promotions, at +179.2% and +45.9% year-on-year respectively, which impacted overall average prices. Interestingly, unlike free-range, organic’s sales off promotion also grew by +40.5%. Barn eggs was the only sub-category to see a decline in promotions and this likely played a factor in its overall performance this period.
Poultry meat
The overall poultry category has grown +1.2%, driven by both chicken (+1.2%) and turkey (+0.7%) as shopper purchased more frequently over the period but in smaller baskets. Within chicken, growth was seen in chicken legs (+3.5%), however chicken pieces (-8.1%), albeit an extremely small share of the market, did not perform too well. As for turkey, growth was seen in turkey breast (+5.1%) and turkey pieces (+5.0%) but other cuts such as turkey roll/roast (-67.5%) and whole turkey (-56.9%) did not do well.
Within chicken overall, there was a +27.1% growth in total price reduction promotions and an increase in meal deals that likely contributed to its growth. Chicken leg prices increased by +1.4%, but volume was still up by +2.0% likely due to a +14.7% increase of on promotional sales. Chicken pieces had the highest price growth of +3.0%, and this likely impacted volume to decline -10.5%.
Health continues to be a big driver in the market as shoppers prefer healthier proteins, which will likely continue to benefit the category in the future. The smaller cuts of the category such as chicken breast and leg and turkey breast and pieces have also both grown over the last period, while both whole chicken and turkey declined – this trend is also likely to persist in the future as shoppers prioritise convenience in their food preparations.
