Manna or mania: meal kit madness

Meal kits have become a staple in the grocery landscape. Time-poor consumers are responding to the supply of fresh, preportioned ingredients in increasing numbers.

Of the 9% of Americans who have tried a meal kit, 6% have purchased exclusively online. And as a result, online meal kit companies are seeing tremendous growth.

But traditional retailers are also honing in on the profitable market niche with in-store meal kit ranges. In the US, in 2017, in-store meal kits generated US$154.6 million in sales, posting growth of more than 26% year-over-year while in the same period grocery, dairy and frozen foods dipped 0.1% to $374 billion.

While 9% of Americans have bought meal kits, an even more startling 25% of consumers say they would consider trying a meal kit in the next six months. This equates to 30 million households! No wonder that competition is ramping up in this sector.

Nielsen conducted a recent analysis to determine which consumer groups are buying meal kits. The analysis found that 26% of meal kit users classify themselves as gourmet cooks, while only 16% of US consumers consider themselves gourmet cooks.

At the same time, 15% of Americans consider themselves frozen foodies, yet only 9% of frozen food consumers are meal kit users.

What do meal kit purchasers want?

• 60% say value for the money is extremely important.
• 49% say low-cost items are important.
• 56% of consumers disagree that meal kit services are affordable for everyone.

Nielsen has additional insight about meal kits available for download in a new e-book.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Solomiya R