Ready meals continue to prove to be one of the highest growth sectors in the food market in 2001, and also one of the most profitable for food retailers. Additionally, the sector as a whole has demonstrated a substantial level of market development and innovation – factors which have been used to significant effect by the major grocery multiples (including Marks & Spencer) to differentiate themselves in a way not possible with most other food and household products. This differentiation has been achieved through offering an ever-widening range of ready meals in terms of main ingredient, ethnic recipe, low calorie/healthy, premium/gourmet, vegetarian and other types.

Continued strong growth and innovation, coupled with the financial and marketing importance of ready meals to retailers and manufacturers, have been the reasons for Key Note producing this new report on the market in 2001 (the previous edition was published in 1999). The principal source used in relation to market size and sector data has been Information Resources, a well established and respected collator of sales information from terminals at major multiple retailers. This data has the added advantage of being recognised and used within the food trade. Other sources are the various government National Statistics trends reports for information on the economic, social and demographic backdrop which has supported ready meals purchasing, and National Opinion Poll (NOP) for exclusive consumer research on purchasing the various types of ready meals – with purchasing detailed by a variety of socio-economic breaks and geographical regions.

A variety of social, economic and demographic changes continue to drive the ready meals market forward, the main supporting trends being increasingly busy lifestyles, greater numbers of working women, a rise in the number of single households and a greying population. The first two factors have resulted in increasingly fragmented family mealtimes and less meals being eaten together. Ready meals provide a solution to this challenge of individuals eating separately but still having ‘proper’ meals. The greying population has resulted in there now being a substantial number of single person and ‘empty nester’ couple households in the UK, both of which are likely to find it more convenient to purchase ready meals than to cook for one or two people.

Convenience is the key reason for ready meals purchase, although this is now increasingly supported by improved range and quality perception. Manufacturers of ready meals have benefited from consumers’ exposure to an ever greater variety of foreign foods over a number of years, as a result of people taking more and longer haul holidays. They have concentrated on providing an increasing breadth of ethnic dishes, with authenticity being one of the most relevant criteria.

Most of the ready meals market growth in recent years has been in the chilled sector, with frozen products — and to an extent ambient, despite significant advertising expenditure — being perceived as traditional, less innovative, lower quality and more ‘downmarket’. Over 95 percent of the chilled sector by value is represented by retailer own-label dishes, a heritage of the originator, Marks & Spencer’s 100 percent own-label policy for its foods. The frozen ready meals market is now equally divided between brands and retailer own label, brands having slowly lost share over the years. The ambient ready meals sector is different again, with 90 percent to 95 percent of the market held by brands.

This new report provides unrivalled up-to-date coverage of market drivers, detailed market size and sector data, manufacturer and retailer information, consumer purchasing findings, and forecast sales.