McKinsey & Company unveiled its “Grocery Industry Report” on 25 March in which it analyses food trade trends in Europe. At the heart of the challenges of tomorrow: the profitability of e-commerce and the attractiveness of private labels. The year 2020 was a record year for the food trade in Europe, with growth of 8% for sales volume and 11% for sales value, reports a study by McKinsey who interviewed about fifty CEOs of the food sector and 10.000 European consumers from 10 countries (France, Germany, UK, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland). This growth can be explained by the postponement of home consumption linked to teleworking and the two lockdowns as well as the closure of restaurants. Sales of food products jumped by 20% (vs. March 2019) in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, leading to a disruption in consumption habits (local shopping, 4% reduction in the frequency of purchases, 15% increase in the size of the average basket). The reopening of post-COVID restaurants should however lead to a return to normalcy, McKinsey believes, however, with food expenses that will remain at a higher level than in 2019 as 7 to 10% of people think they will be spending less in restaurants after the crisis.
COVID-19 update 63 – 27/03-15/04/2021