The Kantar Institute has taken advantage of this year's International Agricultural Show in Paris to reveal the trends and developments in French consumption and the role played by fruit and vegetables.
"Due to the succession of recent crises, the issue of food sovereignty is back at the heart of the debate and has become a matter of concern for the French consumers whose relationship with farmers is at an all-time high. 75% trust farmers, compared with only 45% for food brands and 55% for supermarkets. 65% even say they are prepared to pay more for fairer remuneration of small-scale producers," according to the Institute.
Fruit and vegetables "generate sales in shops"
Traditional fresh produce accounts for 37% of total FMCG-FLS food expenditure, across all channels. They are omnipresent in French consumers' shopping baskets.
- 60% of shopping baskets contain a fresh product
- Households buy fresh produce between 7 and 8 times a month
- The majority of the most popular dishes contain fresh produce
Fresh produce generates sales in stores, especially fruit and vegetables.
- Supermarket sales still account for almost three-quarters of French household spending.
- Fresh produce superstores are expanding and taking over from traditional stores.
- 50% of the traditional fresh produce business is now based on customers aged over 60.
- Traditional fresh produce is the first to be affected by inflation, since 2022.
- Consumers prefer proteins such as eggs, pasta, or rice.
- Some chains, such as Grand Frais, are doing well: 21.7% of households shop for traditional fresh produce in this chain (CAM P11 2024), which is 344,000 customers more than in 2023, 10.3 times a year, and a basket size of €25 [26.3 USD] for each visit.
© Kantar
Fresh produce: 'an adjustment variable' for household portfolios
Purchases of traditional fresh produce fell by 1.5% in 2024. They represent an adjustment variable for household portfolios due to their price.
- The volume of traditional fresh produce has been falling for at least the last 5 years, although there is considerable heterogeneity between generations.
- Senior citizens are the biggest consumers of fresh produce, which they have known since childhood. They know how to prepare and cook them. They have more time and greater purchasing power.
- Younger people, on the other hand, lack the culinary know-how, the time, and the money.
- After COVID-19, the decline was all the more brutal given that traditional fresh produce had risen sharply during the Covid period. During that time, people went back to basics, had more time to cook, and had a bigger budget to spend on food. But post-Covid, the most affluent households have returned to restaurants, which also explains the drop in their purchases of fresh produce for meals at home.
Methodology: a panel of 12,000 households representative of French households and their purchases of traditional fresh produce from all channels (general retailers, convenience stores, e-commerce, discount stores, traditional specialist stores including supermarkets, markets and fairs, and other specialist outlets such as organic shops) for consumption at home.
Source: kantar.com/fr