While breakfast may have earned the moniker of “the most important meal of the day,” lunch is a key meal for today’s busy consumers to keep their blood sugar up throughout the day. And with lunchmeat a convenient source of protein, whether it’s eaten on a sandwich, in a salad or on its own, it should be a lunchtime staple.
However, this $9 billion industry in the U.S., is showing signs of struggle, as both dollar and volume sales for the category overall have declined year-over-year. Retailers and manufacturers have the opportunity to reinvigorate this category by tapping into key consumer trends occurring across the store and understanding the lunchmeat shopper at a deeper level, including their preference for deli or packaged meats.
PROTEIN POWERED GROWTH
For retailers and manufacturers looking to reinvigorate the lunchmeat category, connecting to other growing parts of the store, specifically fresh departments, could be a key opportunity. In a relatively flat U.S. FMCG market, fresh foods have driven almost $1.5 billion in sales gains over the past year. While deli lunchmeat can be found in the same basket as other fresh categories that are growing, such as cheese, lettuce/carrots and bakery bread, packaged lunchmeats are associated with center store areas that are struggling. Packaged brands that can highlight fresh attributes and build new partnerships with other fresh categories could help build overall sales.
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