UK Convenience stores are losing their market share in the Food-To-Go category to specialist operators, a new study has revealed.
As reported by The Federation of Wholesale Distributors, the UK Food To Go Market Report for 2019, shows that the share that convenience stores hold in the market has been falling over the past five years.
The report, carried out by MCA Insight and HIM, found that specialist operators have the advantage of better availability, quality, and speed of service.
The report claimed that FTG market growth peaked in 2013 at 4.6%, before the current downward spiral.
It expects positive growth to return this year, however, with a 3% increase.
Barriers & Trends
Operators are having to increase prices in a ‘highly-competitive lunchtime-to-go market’, where there are ‘stricter psychological barriers’ to high prices often guide consumers to alternative sources.
Another barrier to these markets is the ever-growing health trend from the conscious consumer. However, the report found that veganism and flexitarian diets are having little impact on where people eat.
According to the report, 58% of people ate the same amount of meat in their meals over the last six months.
53% of people said vegan or vegetarian options are rarely or never a consideration when choosing a venue to visit.
The number of those who are more open to eating more meat-free meals, and those who have noticeably changed to a meat-free diet have only grown by 14% over the last six months.
One of the key ingredients to success in the FTG Market, the report found, is the range of products on offer.
It said that retailers who offer a variety of hot and cold options are best placed to maximise their share of the expected growth in the market.
It suggests that the convenience stores in the UK will see its market share in the FTG Industry grow by £0.5 billion in the next three years.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
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