Report: Ice Cream - UK - September 2009

There is growing demand for indulgent ‘treats’ in the British diet and the £1.3 billion ice cream market is tapping into this demand with growing sales of luxury and premium ice creams at the expense of standard varieties. 14m adults buy ice cream as a treat.
There are unexploited opportunities for sorbets and frozen yogurts (part of the ‘healthy’ ice cream sector valued at £47m); as an estimated 21m and 23m adults respectively do not buy these products. Non-buyers tend towards over 45-year-olds in the less affluent C2DE group.
Ice cream suppliers need to ensure that they actively promote the category all year round, and not save their promotional spend just for summer, as 16m adults eat ice cream all year round.
Flavour is the deciding factor for over 22 million people when choosing what ice cream to buy. Ice cream lovers are adventurous as 14m of them like trying out different flavours, offering opportunities for manufacturers to encourage consumers to trial a wider selection of innovative flavours.
Around 6m consumers think that sorbets are healthier than traditional ice cream; these consumers are likely to be 35-54 years old in the more affluent AB socio-economic group.
Value for money is ever more important for consumers are they look to make their shopping budgets go further and just under 7m consumers feel that multi pack ice cream bars (e.g. Mars, Snickers) are good value for money.