Health-conscious shoppers send 'free from' product sales surging past tea
HEALTH-conscious Britons spent an extra £175.6million on fresh fruit last year and a further £122.9million more on ‘free from’ products, according to new figures.
HEALTH-conscious Britons spent an extra £175.6million on fresh fruit last year
Retail experts said the huge jump in business for both sets of groceries showed shoppers in the UK were increasingly embracing healthy eating.
The figures revealed that families in the UK spent £175.6 million more on fresh fruit this year than they did last year, while sales of “free from” products - which assure shoppers they don’t contain any unhealthy additives - increased by £122.9 million or 18.9per cent, according to Nielsen’s annual analysis of supermarket till sales.
The growth of “free from” sales in particular means that market is now worth £772.2 million a year and has become a bigger category than tea.
In addition to the healthier eating, sparkling wine was the only other category to see sales rise by more than £100 million this year, at £101.9 million or 15.5 per cent.
Bottled water was the fourth fastest-growing category, seeing a sales increase of £81.9 million to take it past the £1 billion mark.
Britons spent nearly £50million more on avocados this year, making it the single fastest-growing food or drink item.
Research showed shoppers in the UK were increasingly embracing healthy eating
Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer and business insight, said: “To some, ‘free from’ may still have the air of an ‘alternative’ or niche category but it’s now nearly 40% bigger than a signature staple of British consumption - tea.
It’s now nearly 40% bigger than a signature staple of British consumption - tea
“It’s gone from being the preserve of medical condition purchasing, on its own small shelf space, to a lifestyle or general health choice, punctuating the likes of ice cream, biscuits, butter, baby food and cough medicine.
“As one of the fastest-growing categories, retailers are now giving ‘free from’ more space on shelves and it’ll eventually feature in nearly every category and aisle.”
Fresh fruit’s rise has a lot to do with the popularity of avocados
In addition to the healthy eating sparkling wine sales also increased this year
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The Grocer editor Adam Leyland, who analysed Nielsen’s data, said: “Fresh fruit’s rise has a lot to do with avocados, whose sales have surged by more than a third, as well as blueberries and raspberries.
“Prized as a source of good fats and lauded by food bloggers such as Deliciously Ella and Gwyneth Paltrow, avocados are now Britain’s eighth bestselling fruit.”
Dairy-free brand Alpro is the most popular free-from brand with annual sales at £151.9 million, followed by Lactofree (£49.2 million), aimed at lactose intolerance, and grain-free snack brand Nakd (£36.3 million).