The ice cream category in the UK is worth just over £2bn per annum in total grocery and is seeing strong growth, with value sales up by 12.3% over the last 12 months (L12M) versus (vs) last year (LY).
Growth is being driven by both the volume of ice cream which is 6.6% up over the same period vs LY and the price of ice cream which has increased year-on-year (YOY) by 5.4%. Ice cream sales are highly seasonal and the strong market growth has been driven by the summer of 2025. Last year’s summer was 12% warmer and 13% sunnier than 2024, with a number of heatwaves driving the strong growth.
The market value has grown by just 3.9% over the L6M vs LY and this performance is a truer reflection of the underlying trend, with sales growth driven by unit price growth YOY. With increased footfall driven by the summer weather in 2025, the symbols and independent channel saw a big increase in market share over the L12M, gaining +0.5 Percentage points (PP) vs LY.
Ice cream is an important category for symbols and independents with the channel holding a 10% value share but the opportunity to drive growth Y-O-Y depends on weather patterns and without another very hot summer, the channel will likely lose share over the year ahead.
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