Birds Eye reveals plan to rejuvenate flagging frozen foods category
The challenge
Birds Eye has set out plans to unlock an additional £676m of revenue in frozen food over the next three years. The frozen giant’s blueprint includes an overhaul of supermarket layouts and plans to build on opportunities online and in convenience. It added that the promotional model employed until now must change, as it had failed to drive value.
The frozen food category grew just 0.5% by value in the year to March 2015, according to Kantar Worldpanel, but Birds Eye has claimed this could be accelerated to about 25% if its plan was put into action.
The approach
“We have a huge job to do across the supply chain to persuade shoppers of the relevance of frozen food,”
said MD Andy Weston-Webb.
“The Birds Eye category vision aims to combine our innovation and communication platforms with improved instore execution that can drive volume and value growth.”
Addressing the “uninspiring and unwelcoming” supermarket frozen aisles that are “difficult to navigate” is high on the to-do list, along with proposals for more user-friendly signage, colour coding and menu-based layouts.
The fixture should be divided according to different shopping missions, with areas for ‘Quick and Easy,’ ‘Inspire Me’ and ‘Tea Time Favourites’, Birds Eye suggested.
Such activity should take place alongside changing the perception of the category, which leaves frozen only featuring in 13% of meal occasions currently, Weston-Webb added.
Megan Tatum, “The Grocer” 3rd October 2015.