Recession a Boon for Bargain Foods
November 2009
While recession is fastening its grip over retailers, leading to a large drop in sales, some of the food sector giants are gaining from the credit crunch.
The consumers reduce their purchases to save money which results in higher sale of cheaper products in cheaper supermarkets. Similarly takeaway sales have increased as an alternative to expensive restaurants since home cooking has increased it has increased the sale of olive oil and dishwasher tablets
Walls sausages and Cheesestrings reported a like for like sales growth of 6.3 percent and 10 percent respectively for 2008.
Heinz Chief Financial Officer Art Winkleblack stated that people are choosing to eat more at home which has led to an incredible 21 percent increase in the sales of Heinz Baked Beans, an inexpensive meal.
Customers are purchasing more of frozen food and supermarket own brands products, which have longer shelf-lives as compared to fresh ones and lead to less wastage, as a cost cutting measure. The sales of frozen vegetable have gone up to 10.1 percent in the last year. Sainsbury’s basic range sales have gone up by 40 percent during this economic crunch as compared to last year.
Domino’s Pizza has seen their profits jump by almost a quarter in 2008.The chain opened 52 stores over the year creating employment opportunities (1500 new jobs).
Fish and chip sales have similarly gone up. Sea fish, the seafood industry body stated that, sales at the UK’s 9,500 fish and chip shops were up 5% for the eight months to November, compared to 2007. A judge for the 2008 Fish and Chip Shop of the Year award opined, “Fish and chip shops are well placed to prosper in the current economic climate, as they offer value for money and a quality product with a feel-good factor.”
Michelle Williams from Artemis Solutions Group who specialise in recruiting for Food and Beverage sector comments “The credit crunch and the need to cut down costs by the consumer has led to an increase in sales of inexpensive food products. It has even led to creation of new jobs in some places.”
