New Food Category Introductions in European Forecourt Retailing
Introduction
Many food products are experiencing high growth rates but it is important that forecourt retailers understand which they should include in their limited shop space. Based on Datamonitor's consumer products database and customer research, this brief identifies the fastest growing food markets and the opportunities for forecourt retailers therein.
Scope
Growth in sales of four of the fastest growing food categories through forecourt shops between 2000 and 2006, with forecasts to 2011.Analysis of the consumer trends which are driving growth in selected categories and how they are particularly relevant to forecourt retailers.A detailed overview of some newly-launched products which are suitable for the forecourt shop and are amongst the fastest growing categories.Highlights
Cereal bars stand out as a category which forecourt retailers are well placed to exploit due to the increasing numbers of consumers that want to eat on-the-go. Furthermore, as Europeans' average commuting times are set to increase from 67 minutes in 2006 to 72 minutes in 2011, the snacking on-the-go trend is expected to become even more important.Chilled ready meals represent a strong growth area for service station shops and have been expanding at a particularly rapid rate in Ukraine and Russia. As consumers increasingly engage in 'top-up' shopping, ready meals will remain a strong growth area for forecourt retailers.Sales of speadable fats have been enjoying robust growth and the range of product types on the market has never been wider. Functional spreads have become particularly popular with butter and margarine products increasingly being enriched with a range of vitamins and minerals.Reasons to Purchase
Measure which food categories are growing in popularity through the forecourt shop channel and generate ideas for new product introductions.Uncover the key drivers behind the growth rates of different product categories and gauge how forecourt retailers can best exploit these.Identify the markets in which key food categories are growing at the quickest rates and forecast how this is expected to change in the future.
DATAMONITOR VIEW 1
CATALYST 1
SUMMARY 1
SOURCES 1
ANALYSIS 2
Cereal bars in forecourt shops provide busy motorists with a healthy snack on-the-go 2
Service station sales of cereal bars have been growing quicker than sales through convenience stores 2
In the majority of European markets, service station sales of cereal bars are expected to grow at a faster rate than the market average 3
Within the cereal bars category, sports and energy bars, and breakfast replacement bars are forecast to grow at the fastest rates 4
Forecourt retailers should exploit the growing consumer demand for sports and energy bars 5
Ready meals provide forecourt retailers with a good way of providing customers with fresh meal solutions 7
Growth of chilled ready meals sales have been particularly strong in Ukraine and Russia 7
In Russia and Ukraine, growth in service station sales is expected to significantly exceed the market average 8
Fish-based ready meals are expected to experience the fastest growth 9
Providing ready meals in forecourts responds to consumer demand for 'top-up' shopping 10
Forecourt retailers should offer the fastest growing ready meal types 11
Offering spreadable fats in forecourts enables motorists to undertake part of their shopping whilst on-the-go 14
Growth in sales of spreadable fats through service stations has outstripped that of convenience store sales 14
Service station sales of spreadable fats are predicted to continue to grow at the fastest rates in Lithuania and Estonia 15
Within spreadable fats, functional dairy spreads are predicted to grow at the strongest rates 16
Forecourt retailers should take advantage of the wide range of spreadable fats available 17
Forecourt retailers are well placed to benefit from the growth in functional gum sales 19
The growth of gum sales through service stations has been particularly strong in Estonia and Lithuania 19
Gum sales through service stations are predicted to continue to be strongest in the Baltic States 20
The highest growth going forward is forecast to come from the functional chewing gum 21
Chewing gum products contain an increasing number of functional ingredients in Western European markets 22
APPENDIX 25
Definitions 25
Methodology 26
Product selection 27
Further reading 28
Ask the analyst 28
• The Energy & Utilities analyst team can be contacted at asken@datamonitor.com 28
Datamonitor consulting 28
Disclaimer 28
List of Figures
Figure 1: In 24 of the 29 European markets covered, service station sales of cereal bars have been growing at a quicker rate than convenience store sales 2
Figure 2: In 22 of the 27 European markets covered, sales of cereal bars through service stations are predicted to grow at a faster pace than the market average 3
Figure 3: Across Europe, sales of sports and energy bars, and breakfast replacement bars, are predicted to grow at an annual rate in excess of 12% 4
Figure 4: The Virginias 0% Dietoos bar 5
Figure 5: Novartis' Isostar bar 5
Figure 6: The Body Check bar from Friggs 6
Figure 7: In 21 of the 29 European markets covered, sales of chilled ready meals have grown at a greater pace through service stations than convenience stores 7
Figure 8: In Russia and Ukraine, service stations sales of chilled ready meals are expected to grow at a much faster rate than total market sales 8
Figure 9: Across Europe, fish-based ready meals are expected to grow at an average annual rate of 11% between 2006 and 2011 9
Figure 10: Fish-based ready meal from Homyakovskiy Hladokombinat 11
Figure 11: Nautilus Food's range of seafood ready meals 12
Figure 12: Plus Vertriebs' Mr Yuan Sushi 13
Figure 13: Forecourt sales of spreadable fats have been particularly strong in Lithuania and Estonia 14
Figure 14: Forecourt sales of spreadable fats are predicted to continue to grow at an average annual rate in excess of 15% 15
Figure 15: At the European level, functional dairy spreads are forecast to grow at an annual rate of 37% 16
Figure 16: Unilever Eesti's Delma Extra Margarine 17
Figure 17: Unilever's Bercel Margarine Omega 3 Plus 18
Figure 18: Breeo Foods' Dairygold Low Fat Spread 18
Figure 19: In 26 of the 29 European markets covered, sales of gum have grown at a more rapid pace through service stations than convenience stores 19
Figure 20: In Lithuania, service stations sales of gum are expected to grow at 8 percentage points higher than the market average 20
Figure 21: At the European level, functional chewing gum is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 11% between 2006 and 2011 21
Figure 22: Wrigley's chewing gum and model truck 22
Figure 23: Serra Industria Dolciaria's 'Extra Large Bubble' 23
Figure 24: Cadbury's V-6 dental gum 24
Figure 25: At the European level, functional spreads grew at the quickest rate of all food sub-categories between 2000 and 2006 27
