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Bord Bia

Setting the scene for the Instore Bakery report

Margaret McCarthy, PCF Business Development Manager

Instor Bakery Source.PNG

Bakery is worth over a billion euros to the Irish economy (Shelf Life, 2019), with bakeries spread across the length and breadth of the island. And while in general bakery is not one of those categories that is easily exported, Irish bakeries have made inroads in a total of 45 markets, from France to Australia, and Canada. Bakery exports from Ireland were worth €174m in 2020 (CSO, 2020).

 

Superior quality, strong innovation, free from claims and convenience are the attributes that are driving this export success. And the list of markets is growing, as is the value of our exports, particularly sweet bakery. However, against all of this, our dependency on the UK market is stark.  93% of our exports are destined for the UK, where we account for about 5% of the local market (CSO, 2020), (FOB, 2020).

These exports are concentrated in the in-store bakery (ISB) channel, which accounts for about 12% of volume and 20% of the value of the UK’s bakery market (FOB, 2020). Irish players are well recognised here - leveraging from a dynamic ISB category in the Irish market, they are valued for their quality and innovation. Combined, they account for over half of the product sold as Bake-off in the UK market.

So when the Covid crisis hit, and loose product volumes fell on the back of consumer concerns around hygiene, the repercussions felt were particularly strong for those Irish bakeries servicing the GB market. There were also underlying conditions in British ISB. Performance and key metrics did not compare well with the ROI market where ISB (prior to Covid) was outperforming the market growing 5.5% in 2019 (Kantar, 2020) vs 0% in GB (Nielsen Panel Data, 52 weeks to 05/09/20). In addition the British ISB category was also over-reliant on the +55 yr old shopper (Nielsen, 2020). The rapid shift to online was felt everywhere, but this presented another pinch-point: ISB under-trades in the online environment, mainly for the simple reason that we like to pick and choose our own individual product!

To better understand these shopper behaviours, and subsequently fuel more compelling innovation so that the Irish ISB share is strengthened, Bord Bia invested in an extensive research project commenced last September that included secondary research, trade interviews, qualitative and quantitative research which has recently been shared with client companies. Over the coming weeks we will be sharing some of the highlights of this study.

For further queries contact Margaret.mccarthy@bordbia.ie

 

 

  • DéliFrance report reveals key bakery trends for 2019 and beyond  - Shelflife Magazine. (2019). Retrieved 5 May 2021, from https://www.shelflife.ie/delifrance-report-reveals-key-bakery-trends-for-2019-and beyond/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20Irish%20bakery%20market%20is,%25%20year%2Don%2Dyear
  • Bord Bia's Export Performance and Prospects Report 2020/2021. (2021).
  • Federation of Bakers - Supporting the UK Baking Industry & Bread Market. (2021). Retrieved 5 May 2021, from https://www.fob.uk.com/
  • Home - CSO - Central Statistics Office. (2021). Retrieved 5 May 2021, from https://www.cso.ie/en/index.html
  • (2021). Nielsen Panel Data, 52 weeks to 05/09/20.
  • (2020). Kantar Bakery Data.