Josie Crawley, Solutions Consultant at private brand grocery specialist Solutions for Retail Brands (S4RB).
If you mentioned you were coeliac a decade ago, the typical response would have been a head cocked to the side, a bemused look, closely followed by “you’re a what?”. Much has changed since then, with around ten per cent of the UK population now opting to follow a gluten-free diet, which was traditionally prescribed to those suffering from coeliac disease.
The free-from sector is becoming one of fastest growing areas in the retail food industry and is slowly making its way into the mainstream market. Brands such as Alpro, Genius and So Good (to name a few) are becoming commonplace on many supermarket shelves.
Last year, free-from retail sales in the UK equated to £519m and the industry is predicted to grow even further by the end of the year. The US free-from market is also showing signs of growth, with sales from products now accounting to $8.8bn. There is evidence of similar private trends being followed in the UK, particularly with branding and dominance. Tesco recently won the Free From Awards in 2017 for their aptly named ‘Tesco free FROM’ range. Sainsbury’s also offer an impressive range as part of their Sainsbury’s Deliciously Freefrom range.
Research has shown that there are rising numbers of shoppers who are interested in specialty store brand foods (including organic, gluten free, non-GMO and dairy free). This presents an area of opportunity for private label brands to set themselves apart in the market-place by offering a range of affordable and high-quality alternatives to the national brands.
The private sector is performing well against some of the more long-established national brands, amounting to 46 per cent of overall free-from sales in the UK. The desire for more options is not waning, opening further opportunities for private brands to tempt the modern shopper into their aisles and away from speciality stores.
A number of methods can be used to entice more shoppers into a mainstream store including, increasing the variety of kitchen cupboard staples like bread or pasta or introducing a more favourable ‘value for money’ approach for private label goods (this could the trigger the switch away from national brands).
Furthermore, stocking a larger range of free-from products should help to draw in a greater range of customers. Making it easier for shoppers to identify free-from products is key -labelling everyday items as ‘naturally free-from gluten, dairy’ etc. or clearly featuring the ‘free-from’ label on product packaging can help to achieve this. Some retailers such as Aldi have already begun to implement this.
The ever-increasing success of private label free-from brands can be put down to a whole host of reasons. This includes the limited consumer resistance to new and private brand labels, retailers capitalising on the healthy eating lifestyle trends, and the continued growth of a range of supplier’s producing free-from products worldwide.
The free-from market is showing no signs of slowing down, with Mintel even forecasting that the market will continue to grow further reaching £673m by 2020. When compared to the development of the margins in other sectors, and taking significant changes in customers eating habits into account, this trend appears to be in it for the long haul.