Analysts Nielsen IQ (NIQ) have today released till sales data relating to January 2024, revealing a 5.3% growth compared to December 2024.
January is typically a time of year for a healthy reset for consumers, and NIQ data shows 12% of British households purchased meat-free substitutes in the last four weeks. Whilst this is a small drop from 14% last year, shoppers have not cut back on healthy diets with double-digit growth in freshly prepared fruit (+16%) and fresh vegetable accompaniments, which grew by +9%.
Meat, fish and poultry was the fastest growing super category (+9.1%) as shoppers sought to cook protein-rich meals as part of New Year diets. This was followed by petcare (+8.3%) and dairy products (+6.8%).
In addition, NIQ’s data shows that half of all UK households now say they cook from scratch every day or most days, with around 16% doing so more due to the rising cost of living.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight, said: “The lift to grocery sales in the last four weeks was helped by the timing of the New Year, with a proportion of sales coming from the new year festivities. However, after this, weekly growth in January was slightly lower.
“NIQ’s Homescan data shows that the cost of living is still firmly consumers’ number one concern at the start of 2025. Shoppers are looking to save money and eat healthier leading to a growing trend in scratch cooking, which is one of the key behaviours driving the strong unit and value growth in fresh food categories.”
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