It's in-store bakery's time to shine (or rise)

New research by cookie-commandants Rich Products reveals that indie retailers should up their bakery game for extra profits.

The study shows that Brits needing a sweet in-store bakery (ISB) hit have increasingly turned to the web in the last year (including online ISB, up by +5.1 per cent, driven by older shoppers) - and Rich Products expects sweet bakery sales to maintain momentum in the second half of this year.

Convenience remains a key bakery consideration for retailers and consumers. Rich’s is working with customers to develop its extensive "thaw & serve" retail-ready cookies, muffins and buns, bringing high-quality ISB products to selling channels and shopping locations where previously, they would be unavailable.

The total bakery category has grown 6.3 per cent in grocery retail in the last year. This reflects the trend for indulgent snacking, often at the premium end of the scale. Premium cookies sales have risen +20.8 per cent, whilst the growth in indulgent "filled cookies" have also played a positive role in the category by adding value and trading customers up. ISB muffin sales also grew, up 8.6 per cent, with growth coming from higher-end, twin packs.

Snacking at home rose 41 per cent with more people eating together than ever before in 2020 and additional occasions throughout the day. This resulted in growing sales for "sharing buns" for multiple snackers, which Rich’s predict will continue with increased group eating in the months ahead.

“We’ve seen real resilience in the sweet bakery category, helped by over 9.9billion total annual snacking occasions, and there are plenty of reasons for a positive future," said John Want, Sales, Marketing and R&D Director at Rich’s.

“The last year has shown a rise in out-of-home deliveries, through apps such as Deliveroo, which tapped into the demand for sweet-bakery and hot drink pairings, delivered direct to your door.

“We’ve seen many retailers review their in-store operations recently, and there is still a place for traditional ISB, with over 82 per cent of the population buying sweet ISB products from grocery retailers in the past year.

“There is also a huge under-representation of plant-based vegan instore sweet bakery products. Over the last two years British households have shown a genuine behaviour shift toward eating plant-based goods. We have launched successful plant-based ISB products over the past 12 months and have numerous exciting NPD concepts in the pipeline to meet the growing demand.”