Research by e.fundamentals has found that premium frozen products are not appearing in their fair share of page-1 search results on grocery retail sites, relative to their share of range.
This is significant because about 40% of a product’s sales conversions come from appearing on the first page of search results on retail sites. e.fundamentals believes this ‘premiumisation gap’ could be costing the frozen category an estimated £15m a year, which would give frozen ecommerce a year-on-year boost of 2.1%.
Premiumisation is a key growth driver across grocery in general, but in particular in frozen foods where it contributes to frozen outperforming chilled and ambient in value change. However, the research shows there is room for brands and retailers to improve their online execution to further boost online sales.
| Category | Gap between page-1 search results and range share* | Incremental Opportunity of ‘premiumisation gap’ |
| Total Frozen | 9% | £14.5m |
| Frozen Fish | 20% | £5.1m |
| Frozen Vegetables | 20% | £2.4m |
| Ice Cream | 8% | £2.2m |
| Frozen Chips & Potatoes | 12% | £1.1m |
| Frozen Ready Meals | 3% | £0.7m |
| Frozen Meat & Poultry | 3% | £0.3m |
| Frozen Pizza | 0.3% | £0.0m |
| Other | 9% | £2.8m |
Source: e.fundamentals, June 2019
The analysis suggests that the biggest frozen opportunity (£5.1m) exists in the Frozen Fish category, which has seen premiumisation driven by NPD in higher-end ready meals as shoppers seek healthier alternatives to meat. Space in the freezer is competitive and as the category spans many different products and formats it can be challenging for new brands to cut through to the front page of search.
The premiumisation gap is lower in categories like Frozen Ready Meals, where premium own label ranges and strong branded products like Weight Watchers are already prominent in the category.
e.fundamentals insight manager Helen Thomas commented: “By understanding how retailers’ algorithms work, having a promotional strategy and optimising product content, premium brands can give themselves the best chance of capitalising on this analysis.
“Retailers and brands can benefit by encouraging shoppers to trade up to premium products by presenting them higher in search results.”
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