The total turnover of the frozen meat category in the Dutch retail has increased by 6% last year, with E-commerce in particular on the rise, Jan Zandbergen Group tells from the figures of Nielsen Retail Data. A nice growth, certainly knowing that the perception of ‘frozen’ in The Netherlands is unjustly inferior to chilled. Portion Frost and The Meatlovers appear to be the fastest growing brands in this category.
Jan Zandbergen Group, as supplier of The Meatlovers, keeps track of the data of sales in the category of frozen meat in Dutch retail. It provides insight into turnover, volume and number of sales across the entire category and for its brand.
Looking at Nielsen Retail Data, the frozen meat category (excluding hamburgers) in The Netherlands generated 6% more turnover and 7% more volume in the past year (week 13 2020 to week 12 2021) compared to the previous year. However, there is a variation between the supermarket chains. While some well-known names recorded a turnover growth of around 30% in this category, there are chains where the turnover from frozen meat has actually decreased. The growth is strongest in online sales. If only the E-commerce sales of frozen meat are taken into account, a turnover growth of no less than 116% was realized over the same period.
Not all suppliers of frozen meat benefit from this revenue growth. Clear winners are Portion Frost, a brand of company Diviande, and The Meatlovers. At the beginning of 2016, Jan Zandbergen BV introduced The Meatlovers in the retail market at Jumbo and Jumbo online. Jumbo shows a positive trend on all fronts in the frozen meat category. For retail sales as well as online, it is growing in turnover and volume. The Meatlovers’ frozen range grew by 31% in total. In addition to a larger purchase at Jumbo and Jumbo online, this percentage was achieved because the brand has also been available at stores of Deka-markt, Vomar and Jan Linders since the last quarter of 2020.
Jan Zandbergen Group has no funded research information to explane this increase of the frozen meat category and The Meatlovers in particular, but has some ideas of its own. Laurens Zandbergen, Marketing Manager: “Now that the restaurants are closed, consumers are cooking more extensively at home. Having fancy diners at home, with a product of restaurant-worthy quality. The high quality meat of The Meatlovers fits in perfectly with this. A second reason could be that more attention is being paid to food waste. Frozen products have a long shelf life. Easy to stock up at home without the risk of throwing something away when eating plans change. And who knows, maybe the perception of frozen products is finally starting to improve in The Netherlands.”
The Netherlands does not have such a ‘frozen food culture’ as various other EU countries, partly because frozen food has an unfairly negative image there. Laurens Zandbergen: “And that while frozen vegetables and frozen meat are just as healthy as fresh or chilled products. When it is frozen professionally and quickly, you can be sure that the nutritional values and quality are guaranteed.“ The Meatlovers products are stored at Jumbo and Jan Linders in a freezer compartment at the fresh meat category, so not at the frozen segment, between the pizzas and snacks. Zandbergen: “That is a conscious, conjoint choice. After all, it is primarily about the meat, it belongs in that category in the store, where consumers choose the meat. The method of preservation is secondary.”
The Meatlovers is stored in a freezer compartment at the fresh meat category and not at the frozen segment. It is all about the meat, the method of preservation is secondary.
With The Meatlovers’ beautiful quality meat, consumers can enjoy a restaurant-worthy experience at home.
The Meatlovers has an extensive range of beef, veal, pork, lamb, game and poultry products. Over the years, the range has grown to more than 50 items for retail to choose from; from burgers and steaks to larger portions. Many products are 100% meat, so clean label. Partly due to the popularity of the brand, the range has been expanded with 4 additional products; tenderloin skewer, Iberico skewer, lamb skewer and lamb merguez.
Packaging with exclusive look & feel to match the quality
