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Food preparation: a Christmas winner again…just!

January 2012,
Small Domestic Appliances, UK

Small kitchen appliances generally get a boost in the run-up to the Christmas gifting period and 2011 has been no different. Despite strains on the household purse softening the acceleration, consumers still went shopping for coffee makers and kitchen gadgets and not just at the budget end of the scale. Food preparation products also benefit as home cooks’ thoughts turn to TV chef inspired festive dinners. Premium priced kitchen machines, stand mixers and food processors all traditionally perform well in value and kitchen machines in particular grew its share of the market by three percentage points over the six months to Christmas taking a quarter of sales and rising to over 30% in value during November. This establishes the annually growing trend of consumers bringing forward their purchases of gifts and must have equipment ahead of December.

This consistent topping of the year before in sales terms is impressive but 2011 has not been as emphatic a performance and food preparation only just comes out ahead compared to previous years. The number of products leaving shelves has also fallen in some quarters. Mini choppers, hand mixers and hand blenders lost out in volume terms but value still remains strong and contributed an extra £3m in the second half of 2012.

Whilst the internet has undoubtedly had big impact in where consumers buy and the prices they are willing to trade up to, the traditional brick and mortar retailers still win out constituting over three quarters of sales. Online share of trade is on the rise though; overall, internet retail stands at more than 24% of all items sold in food preparation, increasing from less than one fifth of the market just two years ago.

Looking to the future, the abundance of foodie media already on our screens and in magazines will continue to help support growth for the market. The question for 2012 is whether consumers will budget more than previous years and whether retailers will feel compelled to force down prices. Either way, this will present a challenge to value in the medium term.

Written by Helen Warner

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