[ category insights ]
INTERNATIONAL
FLAVOURS Exciting new inspiration for shoppers.
Remember when travelling around the world was easy? Our borders may be closed due to an ongoing pandemic, but New Zealanders still love to explore exciting new flavours. The IRI State of the Nation Survey 2020 confirmed that 52% of New Zealanders ‘like to try new ethnic foods’. In addition to an increasingly diverse demographic, shoppers are inspired by social media, TV shows, ethnic restaurants and fond memories of visiting distant places. You will now find Mexican Fiesta nights, aromatic Indian curries and Italian-inspired long lunches on the weekend in many homes, from Invercargill to Kaitaia. Convenience is important for many shoppers, and we see that sales of frozen pizza bases in our supermarkets have increased by 47% (source: Nielsen Scantrack - Val % Chg YA MAT 20/06/21). Glen Goodall, National Sales Manager at Farrah’s told FMCG Business: “After strong growth during the COVID-19 lockdowns, International Foods is currently going through a stable period. Mexican is at $38.62M (-3.8% MAT 11/07/21 IRI) and there has been some successful innovation in the category that has produced positive results. “The Mexican category has flattened over the quarter, however positive growth is now coming back into the category driven by Farrah’s refreshed range delivering +48.9% dollars growth (% YA Quarter to 11/07/21 20
FMCG BUSINESS - AUGUST 2021
IRI). Other innovation in the subsegment of sauces has seen brands such as Culley’s meeting the consumer thirst for new flavours. He adds: “Consumer insights show convenience remains important fast, fresh and flavoursome meal solutions that provide healthy, betterfor-you, tasty meals that can be enjoyed by all the family. Possibly driven by the absence of travel there is a segment of consumers looking for ethnic flavours and recreation of restaurant quality fusion meals at home, again looking for fresh and flavour in these meals. Taco tortilla carriers are a great example of this, we have seen strong growth from Farrah’s taco tortilla where consumers are freestyling these fusion creations that are not just your typical Mexican creations but venture into customising these to suit their tastes, heat and spice levels easily so the whole family can enjoy the one meal.”
Consistent growth Keezia Haste, NZ Country Manager at General Mills told FMCG Business: “We have seen consistent growth in International Foods driven by more consumers coming into the category, consumers spending more and buying often! Covid had an incredible impact on this category, with more consumers cooking at home. Asian and Mexican have seen the biggest growth.
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