The ethnic calendar is just one driver of vigorous NPD says Sheila Eggleston
Authenticity and hot wokking have become the buzzwords in ethnic cuisine. New flavours reflecting the insatiable demand for novelty are being developed to help any wannabe Jamie Oliver with quick, easy meal solutions.
Growth is driven by Indian and Oriental, although other nationalities are biting into these sectors. The ethnic Indian sauce sector, worth £123.3m, is static, up 0.1% year on year, while ethnic Chinese and Oriental Chinese are worth £99.8m and £93.1m, and up 8.2% and 10.2% respectively [Information Resources].
Themed events are proving to be the lifeblood of the sauce category, encouraging people to buy and trial and buy again. Chinese New Year, the Indian Festival of Light, Diwali, and newcomer Thai New Year are recognised by companies such as Sharwood's and Blue Dragon as providing dynamic sales uplift.
Sharwood's group brand manager Clare Meredith-Jones says: "Chinese New Year is a massive sales driver. Sauce sales peak soaring 30%-40% year on year. Diwali is less effective because retailers aren't so geared up for it, but sales can still rise 20%-25%. We've continued to work with retailers around this festival and are trying to arrange a Diwali or Taste of India event."
Sharwood's is backing its core brand to the tune of £5m this year and this encompasses a TV campaign in late summer, plus press and outdoor advertising. This year the focus is on Thai which it says is still untapped in retail. Thai New Year falls in April 2002 and promises to be another sales building event. Thai cuisine is worth £6.7m, 13.1% year on year [Information Resources]. Progress has been slow but the industry is confident Thai sauces will soon make a substantial breakthrough.
Meredith-Jones says: "The time is right to launch Thai. It's a small sector but we have launched a lot of Thai food this year such as our sweet chilli and lemongrass, and lemongrass and ginger sauces, and we plan to bring more oriental sauces to market."
Retailers offering meal solutions, stand to benefit more, and link-save promotions such as stir-fry sauces and discounted prawn crackers encourage consumers to trial. "Between 20%-25% of all products are sold on deal to bring new people into the category," she says.
"Hot wokking in store also helps create a bit of theatre around themed events," she adds.
Sweet and sour are still the bestselling flavours as shown in ACNielsen's new product monitor, which also demonstrates the effect these themed events has on sales. Peaks are clearly visible in oriental sauces over the January/February period and in Indian sauces in November.
HP Foods says that although cooking sauce is the largest sector of the Chinese sauce market, stir-fry sauces are today's star buys because stir-frying has become a popular way for health conscious consumers to cook. HP has capitalised on this trend with its Amoy Straight to Wok Chinese stir-fry sauces.
However the company is concerned about heavy bogof activity which could undermine the category.
Category manager Shona Tough says: "During the last 12 weeks, volume in the stir-fry sauce sector has remained in growth, up 3.5%, but aggressive bogof activity has led to a devaluation of the market and a 0.7% decline in value. There is a danger of the product becoming store cupboard fillers as customers stockpile the offers."
Patak's claims jarred sauce is the most important Indian sector accounting for 46% of value sales. It claims an 18% share in this sector. However, pastes where Patak's claims a 70% share, is showing stronger growth patterns with value sales up by more than 10% year on year.
Sales and marketing director Alison Cannon says research shows that Indian restaurant food is influencing consumers to have a go at home. "Most people start with the sauces, then move into pastes as they get more adventurous," says Cannon.
Blue Dragon is a strong backer of themes and has added the year-long Japanese festival Matsuri to its events calendar.
The company offers sachets of sauces in its Chinese category and a range of Thai cooking sauces. New to its portfolio are chow mein and black pepper sauces, and the launch of its first Japanese teriyaki stir-fry sauce.
Kikkoman hopes the Matsuri which kicked off in May will spur consumers to experiment with Japanese cooking sauces and soy sauce. It says teriyaki and sukiyaki cooking sauces can be used for stir-frying and more emphasis will be put on this in its marketing activity.
Sco-Fro Foods, which specialises in Indonesian and Thai sauces and pastes, is developing new products for the UK via its Far Eastern partners.
Managing director Sonja Stewart says promotions which encourage consumers to experiment with new meal ideas at a lower cost are helping to drive growth in the ethnic sauce sector. "There is no doubt busy people are moving away from pre prepared foods and returning to the kitchen to cook ethnic dishes that are easy to produce in a wok.
"Indian food has driven ethnic food sales for more than 10 years but if the fusion food trend continues, the future for authentic Far Eastern foods looks very bright," she says.
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