Australians are buying less ice cream now than they did in 2015, with 9.9 million purchasing ice cream today compared to 10.5 million in 2015, according to the latest research from Roy Morgan.
The research company believes the category may be facing competition from alternatives like yoghurt.
However particular brands have stood out in the last four years most notably Connoisseur, Weis and Bulla Creamy Classics.
Bulla is the most popular brand ice cream brand in the marketplace, rivaling supermarket brands bought by 26.2 per cent of ice cream buyers and Peters bought by 21.2 per cent. Bulla Creamy Classics increased its percentage of ice cream buyers to a four year high of 16.6 per cent, up from 12.5 per cent in 2015.
Connoisseur is gaining popularity, now bought by about 14.7 per cent of ice cream buyers, up from 11.2 per cent in 2015. While Weis has increased 1.7ppts over the same time from 2.4 per cent to now 4.1 per cent of ice cream buyers.
“The number of Australians buying ice cream has declined in recent years falling from 10.5 million in 2015 to under 9.9 million today. The growth in population during this period amplifies this trend as the percentage of Australian ice cream buyers has dropped from 76.4% in 2015 to only 64.3% in 2019, a fall of 12.1ppts,” Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan, said.
“This decline has been widespread across the many brands tracked by Roy Morgan however there are some noteworthy exceptions which have managed to grow their market over the last few years led by Connoisseur and including Weis and Bulla Creamy Classics.”
Leading brands of ice cream bought by Australian ice cream buyers
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), April 2014 – March 2015 (n=7,269) and April 2018 – March 2019 (n= 3,053). Base: Australians 14+ who “bought ice cream tubs or cartons in the last 4 weeks”.
“The typical ice cream buyer these brands [Weis, Bulla, Connoisseur] are successfully appealing to tends to be female, aged 35 years and older and come from mid-life households. The three brands have shown that having a unique identity and fulfilling a purpose in the buyers’ life makes all the difference,” said Levine.
