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Study: Specialty food retail hits $48 billion in 2008 |
04.03.2009
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By Anna Wolfe
NEW YORK-Even though 2008 was riddled with financial turmoil, the specialty food industry managed to ring up $48 billion in sales at retail, an 8.4 percent increase over 2007, according to the "2009 State of the Specialty Food Industry," a report from the National Association of the Specialty Food Trade, Mintel International and SPINS.
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The NASFT and market research firm Mintel released the findings of the report April 1 during a webinar.
Including foodservice sales, the specialty food industry reported $60 billion in sales last year.
"The current economy is a major driver now," said Marcia Mogelonsky, senior research analyst at Mintel. "The economy has been up and down and is mostly down and is reflective in the evidence included in the state of the Specialty Food industry."
Among the changes in the past year, eating in is in, not out, said Mogelonsky. Forty-three percent have cut back on going out to eat. "More people are cooking at home more often," she said, "and this changes how they shop for food."
Instead of splurging on going out to eat, Mogelonsky said, consumers are "trading up" and buying specialty food for special occasion meals at home. "Some view trading up as a better way to spend money rather than going out to eat."
At the same time, 57 percent of consumers are buying fewer premium brand brands. Instead, they're shopping for specialty foods for special occasions, and this is an opportunity for the specialty food industry, she said.
Still, the cut backs have impacted suppliers in the specialty food industry. While 43 percent of specialty food manufacturers surveyed said their sales were flat or had increased, 58 percent of the manufacturers reported a drop in sales, and 17 percent had sales plummet 20 percent or more.
Last year, manufacturers introduced fewer new products. In 2008, 2,349 new products were introduced vs. the 3,158 in 2007.
"In these economic times, people are going back and focusing on their core products," said Ron Tanner, the NASFT's vice president, communications, education, government and industry relations.
For more information about the study, visit www.specialtyfood.com under Education and Resources. A replay of the webinar will be available after April 8.
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