Retail Beef Sales Remain Strong During February
Drovers 042021
Sales of all food and beverage items during February were 11.8% higher than during February 2020, and the meat department was an above-average performer. According to sales data from IRI, meat department sales increased 15.4% in February over year-earlier, which excludes online-only and delivery e-commerce sales. Meat department multi-outlet sales for the four weeks ending February 28th gained an additional $807 million versus the comparable period in 2020.
“The meat department dollar sales gain of 15.4% exceeded that of the fourth quarter and January, importantly, the volume gains were the highest since the second quarter of 2020, at +8.6%,” said Anne-Marie Roerink, president of 210 Analytics. “Dollars and volume trended 6.8 points apart — significantly closer than during most of 2020.”
Fresh meats made up the majority of share sales, at $4.0B, but had slightly lower gains (+14.6%) than processed meats (+17.2%) in February 2021. Additionally, volume gains were slightly higher for processed meats, at +17.2%. That resulted in the gap between volume and dollars increasing a little to 6.8 percentage points for meat overall, Roerink said.
In February 2021, beef accounted for 64% of all additional dollars over the same month in 2020. However, chicken had a strong month and was the second-largest contributor to sales gains, at +$97 million versus year ago.
Roerink said March sales data will be compared against the two biggest weeks in the history of grocery retailing and will likely turn negative versus year ago.
“However, based on the pattern of the last few months, sales are likely still going to track ahead against the baseline of 2019,” she said. “With the average number of new COVID-19 cases coming down, pent up demand for eating out is likely going to increase foodservice spending, particularly as more states are opening up on-premise dining. Additionally, increases in gasoline sales, OpenTable reservations, TSA checkpoint numbers, the re-opening of schools and other indicators are pointing to increased consumer mobility. Increased mobility is also likely to result in a switch from home-centric food spending to greater foodservice engagement, and may drive increased demand for time-saving, convenience focused solutions in the meat department.”
