New retail data released by Kantar Worldpanel has revealed that 2020 is turning into a bumper year for lamb sales.
The latest figures, covering the 12-weeks through the late summer and early autumn to the 4th October, show that British shoppers spent 15.5% more on lamb than during the same period last year, and consumed 11% more by volume.
Taking the year as a whole, lamb sales have rebounded strongly after a disappointing Easter, which Kantar says is traditionally a time of peak demand but was badly impacted by lockdown restrictions on family gatherings this year.
Since then, consumers have looked to new options as they’ve had more time to cook at home and lamb has been a popular choice. Total spending on lamb in Britain is now up 7.9% on the year to date, a period when HCC – Meat Promotion Wales and retailers have invested in increased promotion in-store and via social media.
“After instability in the markets earlier in the year due to the disruption of the foodservice and hospitality trade, lamb’s popularity has been a notable feature of the British retail market."
The figures suggest that the main reason for lamb’s growth in popularity is not only that existing consumers are buying more but that new customers are giving lamb a try. The number of people purchasing lamb is up 9%, with nearly a third of households buying it at least once during the 12-week period.
While lamb is still most popular among older consumers, this year has seen a number of younger shoppers trying lamb. A strong year-on-year increase in terms of the volume of lamb purchased has been seen in households with children (+17.2%) and shoppers aged under 45 (+13.4%).
HCC’s data analyst, Glesni Phillips, said: “After instability in the markets earlier in the year due to the disruption of the foodservice and hospitality trade, lamb’s popularity has been a notable feature of the British retail market.
“Our marketing strategy has centred on responding to consumer trends in this very unusual year – working with famous chefs to encourage people to try out new ideas at home.
“We’re pleased that the data shows increasing numbers of families and younger consumers trying lamb. We’ll continue to target marketing at this group in the run-up to Christmas.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
