Like milk, bread and eggs, cheese is one of those staples that finds its way into just about everyone’s supermarket trolley on a regular basis. In fact, the latest findings from Roy Morgan Research reveal that 84% of grocery shoppers—or 11.8m Australians—purchase at least one kind of cheese in an average month.
These are primarily block cheese, grated or shredded blocks and traditional sliced slabs. And for all three categories, home brands are the most popular choice.
Block cheese is the most popular by far—purchased by 9.4m Aussies a month. Some 2.3m buy supermarket-brand blocks, just ahead the number of Bega-brand blocks and more than double the market of Coon blocks.
Just over 6.3 million Australians buy grated or shredded cheese a month—again, the vast majority, and more than three times more than Bega-buyers.
Bought by 712,000 shoppers a month, Perfect Italiano is the third-most popular choice in this category.
Meanwhile, 5.4m shoppers buy sliced cheese each month, with 1.6m opting for supermarket brands. Again, Bega comes in second, with 1.3m buyers, followed by Kraft.
Andrew Price, General Manager – Consumer Products, Roy Morgan Research, says:
“Australians are not, on the whole, becoming more open to supermarket-brand products. Cheese is a striking exception, with home-brands being the top choice in the block, grated, shredded and sliced categories,” said Andrew Price of Roy Morgan.
“Driving the home-brand movement are grocery buyers from the 35-49 age bracket, who are consistently more likely than those from any other age group to buy supermarket-branded cheeses across all three categories.”
Living in a household with children under 16 also increases a grocery buyer’s likelihood of buying supermarket brand cheese—and again, many of these shoppers would fall within the 35-49 age range.
Price added: “With Australia’s supermarkets currently at ‘war’, jostling for greater market share, home brands are one of the key battlegrounds.
“Attracting consumers with a quality, affordable range of own-brand products is a positive way for supermarkets to prosper in this challenging climate – and though this is easier said than done, the popularity of home-brand cheese is cause for optimism.”