Kantar Worldpanel insight director, Scotland Amanda Brown explains that cheese sales held up better in Scotland than elsewhere in Britain last year.
WHEN it comes to saying “cheese” Scots shoppers aren’t at all shy if compared to the GB average. The sales performance of cheese in general hasn’t been great. But sales value north of the border fell less than in Britain overall. That might have been influenced by a couple of interesting factors. First we tend to buy branded cheese at a higher rate than the British norm. And, it seems, when we’re talking cheese at least, an increasing number of Scottish shoppers have been voting for Europe.
Amanda Brown, strategic insight director, Scotland of specialist consumer market analyst Kantar Worldpanel said take-home sales in the cheese category were worth £2.7bn in Great Britain in the 12 months to late May this year.
But that meant GB sales value had fallen by 1% compared to a year before.
In Scotland take-home cheese sales were worth £251m.
So with around 9.3% of total GB sales we punch a little above our weight.
Last year sales in Scotland, worth £97 per shopper, were down by 0.6%, roughly half as steep a decline as the GB figure. And volume sales of cheese in Scotland were actually up.
What are Scottish shoppers’ special characteristics?
“When you start to look at the main sectors, you also start to understand how Scottish shoppers differ in their behaviour within the category,” Brown said.
“75% of Scottish shoppers, for example, purchase processed cheese versus 69% of GB shoppers.
“Then we can understand why processed cheese accounts for a higher proportion of overall category spend in Scotland at 14%.
“In Scotland we see continental cheeses, mini portions, blue cheese, processed and soft white sectors all growing in the last year.
“The most notable growth is coming from continental cheeses which after cheddar is the second biggest sector in Scotland with a 17.4% share and growing by 6.5% versus last year,” the Kantar Worldpanel insight diector said.
“And quark has doubled its sales value in Scotland over the last 12 months.”
• 75% of Scottish shoppers purchase processed cheese compared to 69% of GB shoppers
• Most notable growth is coming from continental cheeses, the second biggest sector in Scotland with a 17.4% share and growing by 6.5%
