The US Ice Cream Market: What Consumers Eat and Why? (2024)


What is the current market landscape and what is changing?
As consumer confidence increases proportionally to economic recovery, consumer trends will be directly affected. Since the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, the retail market has been characterized by an increase in the amount of discounted and own-brand products. Ice Cream has not been immune from the general changes in consumers' habits and marketers will need to react to these changes to maximize growth in the future.


What are the key drivers behind recent market changes?
Consumers' uptake of products and the influence of consumer trends are fundamental causes of change in markets - making knowing what these trends are and the extent of their influence crucial. The survey-based data provided in this report examines over 20 consumer trends that affect the market and examines the share of consumption across 26 consumer groups. The data provides a detailed insight into exactly who the consumer is and just how much impact the latest consumer trends are having.


What makes this report unique and essential to read?
The data provided is unique in the market as it tracks consumer behavior through to its actual value impact on a product market. This provides readers with a unique data analysis of the market, allowing marketing tactics and strategy to be updated in line with the very latest consumer behaviors.

Key Market Issues

Children (Kids and Babies) in the US represent just over 20% of the population; however, they are responsible for 22% of the Artisanal Ice Cream market. The proportion of Children that consume Artisanal Ice Cream is low at about a third, but this is still higher than the Oldest Adults at 20%.

Take-home Ice Cream represents over half of the Ice Cream market in the US. Any changes in consumption rates or encouragement of new consumers in this category will therefore have more of an impact on the overall market than similar changes in the other categories.

The population of the US is fairly evenly split between Males and Females; however, Females consume approximately 15% more Ice Cream than Males in all categories. Marketers should consider gender based marketing to benefit from this split.

Key Highlights

Older Consumers represent 27% of the value share of the Impulse Ice Cream market in the US, followed by children with 20% share. Marketers need to ensure that their campaigns target both areas of the market to maintain and further encourage these consumers as well as attempting to encourage consumption in the middle age groups.

With the exception of one retailer, which accounts for almost 30% by value, the Ice Cream market in the US is fragmented. This gives producers some bargaining power with retailers.

Private Label products have small but significant shares in the Impulse and Take-home Ice Cream markets in the US. The remainder of these markets is fairly evenly spread among national brands. There is still some room for Private Label growth among some of the smaller brands. Marketers of these brands need to differentiate their brands in order to prevent becoming a target of Private Label competition.
1 Introduction
1.1 What is this Report About?
1.2 Definitions
1.2.1 Consumer Trends
1.2.2 Consumer Groups
1.2.3 End Consumers
1.2.4 Volume Units and Aggregations
1.2.5 Population Profiles (for interpretation of tables and charts)
2 Methodology
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Initial data are based on a large scale, international, program of online consumer surveys
2.3 Demographic groups tracking provides time series data
3 Publication process Consumer Segmentation, Group Value and Trend Influence
3.1 Cohort Groups and Ice Cream Market Value
3.1.1 Age Groups
3.1.2 Gender Groups
3.1.3 Location Groups
3.1.4 Education Achieved Groups
3.1.5 Wealth Groups
3.1.6 Busy Lives Groups
3.2 Cohort Groups and Market Value by Category
3.2.1 Artisanal Ice Cream
3.2.2 Impulse Ice Cream
3.2.3 Take-home Ice Cream
3.3 Behavioral Trends and Market Value
3.3.1 Artisanal Ice Cream
3.3.2 Impulse Ice Cream
3.3.3 Take-home Ice Cream
4 Consumption Analysis
4.1 Consumption Frequencies by Age and Gender
4.1.1 Artisanal Ice Cream
4.1.2 Impulse Ice Cream
4.1.3 Take-home Ice Cream
4.2 Consumer Profiles by Product Category
4.2.1 Artisanal Ice Cream
4.2.2 Impulse Ice Cream
4.2.3 Take-home Ice Cream
5 Brand vs. Private Label Uptake
5.1 Brand vs. Private Label Consumer Penetration
5.1.1 By Category
5.2 Ice Cream Brand Choice and Private Label Consumer Penetration
5.2.1 Impulse Ice Cream
5.2.2 Take-home Ice Cream
6 The Share of Consumers Influenced by Trends
6.1 Trend Drivers of Consumers' Product Choices
6.1.1 Overall Ice Cream
6.1.2 Artisanal Ice Cream
6.1.3 Impulse Ice Cream
6.1.4 Take-home Ice Cream
7 Consumption Impact: Market Valuation
7.1 Ice Cream Value Impact of Consumer Consumption Behavior
7.1.1 Market Value by Category
7.1.2 Market Volume by Category
7.2 Ice Cream Value Analysis by Category
7.2.1 Market Value by Category
7.2.2 Expenditure per Capita by Category
7.2.3 Expenditure per Household by Category
7.3 Ice Cream Volume Impact of Consumer Behavior Trends
7.3.1 Market Volume by Category
7.3.2 Consumption per Capita by Category
7.3.3 Consumption Per Household by Category
8 Retailer Choice and Category Share
8.1 Retailer Volume Share
8.1.1 Retailer Volume Share in Ice Cream
8.2 Retailer Volume Share by Category
8.2.1 Retail Share by Volume - Impulse Ice Cream
8.2.2 Retail Share by Volume - Take-home Ice Cream
8.3 Profiles of End-Consumers of Ice Cream, by Retailer Used
8.3.1 Costco
8.3.2 Kroger
8.3.3 Publix
8.3.4 Safeway
8.3.5 Wal-Mart
8.3.6 Other
9 Appendix
9.1 About Canadean
9.2 Disclaimer

List of Tables

Table 1: Volume Units for the Ice Cream Market
Table 2: United States Survey Respondent profile (weighted), 2012
Table 3: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%), by Age Groups, 2012
Table 4: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%), by Gender, 2012
Table 5: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%), by Urban and Rural Dwellers, 2012
Table 6: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%) by Education Level Achieved Groups, 2012
Table 7: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%) by Wealth Groups, 2012
Table 8: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%) by Busy Lives Groups, 2012
Table 9: United States Artisanal Ice Cream Consumer Group Share (% market value), 2012
Table 10: United States Impulse Ice Cream Consumer Group Share (% market value), 2012
Table 11: United States Take-home Ice Cream Consumer Group Share (% market value), 2012
Table 12: United States Total Artisanal Ice Cream Value (US Dollar millions) and Value Share Influenced by Behavioral Trends, 2012
Table 13: United States Total Impulse Ice Cream Value (US Dollar millions) and Value Share Influenced by Behavioral Trends, 2012
Table 14: United States Total Take-home Ice Cream Value (US Dollar millions) and Value Share Influenced by Behavioral Trends, 2012
Table 15: United States Artisanal Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Age Group, by Consumption Group), 2012
Table 16: United States Artisanal Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Gender by Consumption Group), 2012
Table 17: United States Impulse Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Age Group, by Consumption Group), 2012
Table 18: United States Impulse Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Gender by Consumption Group), 2012
Table 19: United States Take-home Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Age Group, by Consumption Group), 2012
Table 20: United States Take-home Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Gender by Consumption Group), 2012
Table 21: United States Artisanal Ice Cream Consumer Profiles (% consumers by sub-group), 2012
Table 22: United States Impulse Ice Cream Consumer Profiles (% consumers by sub-group), 2012
Table 23: United States Take-home Ice Cream Consumer Profiles (% consumers by sub-group), 2012
Table 24: United States Ice Cream Private Label Consumer Penetration (% Consumers Using), by Category, 2012
Table 25: United States Impulse Ice Cream Consumer Penetration of Survey-tracked Brands and Private Label (% Consumers Using), 2012
Table 26: United States Take-home Ice Cream Consumer Penetration of Survey-tracked Brands and Private Label (% Consumers Using), 2012
Table 27: United States Ice Cream: Percentage of Consumers Stating that Specific Trends Influence Their Consumption, 2012
Table 28: United States, Artisanal Ice Cream: Percentage of Consumers Stating that Specific Trends Influence Their Consumption, 2012
Table 29: United States, Impulse Ice Cream: Percentage of Consumers Stating that Specific Trends Influence Their Consumption, 2012
Table 30: United States, Take-home Ice Cream: Percentage of Consumers Stating that Specific Trends Influence Their Consumption, 2012
Table 31: United States Ice Cream Market Value (US Dollar million), by Category, 2012
Table 32: United States Ice Cream Market Volume (Kg m), by Category, 2012
Table 33: United States Ice Cream Market Value (US$ million), by Category, 2012
Table 34: United States Ice Cream Expenditure Per Capita (US Dollar), by Category, 2012
Table 35: United States Ice Cream Expenditure Per Household (US Dollar), by Category
Table 36: United States Ice Cream Market Volume (Kg m), by Category, 2012
Table 37: United States Ice Cream Consumption Per Capita (Kg / Population ), by Category, 2012
Table 38: United States Ice Cream Consumption Per Household (Kg / Households), by Category, 2012
Table 39: United States Ice Cream Survey-tracked Retailer Shares by Volume (% of Kg m), 2012
Table 40: United States Impulse Ice Cream Survey-tracked Retailer Shares by Volume (Kg m), 2012
Table 41: United States Take-home Ice Cream Survey-tracked Retailer Shares by Volume (Kg m), 2012
Table 42: United States: Profile of Ice Cream Consumers Whose Goods Mainly Come From Costco (% by Subgroup, as tracked by the Survey), 2012
Table 43: United States: Profile of Ice Cream Consumers Whose Goods Mainly Come From Kroger (% by Subgroup, as tracked by the Survey), 2012
Table 44: United States: Profile of Ice Cream Consumers Whose Goods Mainly Come From Publix (% by Subgroup, as tracked by the Survey), 2012
Table 45: United States: Profile of Ice Cream Consumers Whose Goods Mainly Come From Safeway (% by Subgroup, as tracked by the Survey), 2012
Table 46: United States: Profile of Ice Cream Consumers Whose Goods Mainly Come From Wal-Mart (% by Subgroup, as tracked by the Survey), 2012
Table 47: United States: Profile of Ice Cream Consumers Whose Goods Mainly Come From Other (% by Subgroup, as tracked by the Survey), 2012

List of Figures

Figure 1: Consumer Trends Report Methodology
Figure 2: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%), by Age Groups, 2012
Figure 3: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%), by Gender, 2012
Figure 4: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%), by Urban and Rural Dwellers, 2012
Figure 5: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%) by Education Level Achieved Groups, 2012
Figure 6: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%) by Wealth Groups, 2012
Figure 7: United States Ice Cream Value Share (%) by Busy Lives Groups, 2012
Figure 8: United States Artisanal Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Age Group by Consumption Group), 2012
Figure 9: United States Artisanal Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Gender by Consumption Group), 2012
Figure 10: United States Impulse Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Age Group by Consumption Group), 2012
Figure 11: United States Impulse Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Gender by Consumption Group), 2012
Figure 12: United States Take-home Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Age Group by Consumption Group), 2012
Figure 13: United States Take-home Ice Cream Consumption Frequency Analysis (% by Gender by Consumption Group), 2012
Figure 14: United States Ice Cream Market Value (US$ million), by Category, 2012
Figure 15: United States Ice Cream Expenditure Per Capita (US$), by Category, 2012
Figure 16: United States Ice Cream Expenditure Per Household (US$), by Category
Figure 17: United States Ice Cream Survey-tracked Retailer Shares by Volume (% of Kg m), 2012
Figure 18: United States Impulse Ice Cream Survey-tracked Retailer Shares by Volume (Kg m), 2012
Figure 19: United States Take-home Ice Cream Survey-tracked Retailer Shares by Volume (Kg m), 2012

Companies Mentioned

Costco, Kroger, Publix, Safeway, Walmart

Read the full report:
The US Ice Cream Market: What Consumers Eat and Why?
http://www.reportbuyer.com/food_drink/chilled_frozen_food/us_ice_cream_market_consumers_eat_why.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Frozen_Food

For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [emailprotected]
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com

I'm an expert in market research and consumer behavior analysis, having actively participated in numerous studies and analyses within the consumer goods sector. My expertise extends to understanding the impact of economic shifts on consumer trends, especially in the aftermath of significant events like the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Additionally, I have been involved in the evaluation of market dynamics, including the rise of discounted and private label products in the retail sector.

In the context of the provided article on the current market landscape of the US Ice Cream market, let's delve into the key concepts and information presented:

1. Consumer Trends:

  • Definition: Patterns of behavior or preferences exhibited by consumers in the market.
  • Importance: Understanding consumer trends is crucial for marketers to align strategies with evolving preferences.

2. Consumer Groups:

  • Definition: Categorized groups of consumers based on various characteristics like age, gender, and behavior.
  • Significance: Identifying consumer groups helps tailor marketing efforts to specific demographics, optimizing market impact.

3. End Consumers:

  • Definition: The ultimate purchasers and users of a product or service.
  • Insight: Knowing end consumers aids in creating targeted marketing campaigns to meet their needs effectively.

4. Volume Units and Aggregations:

  • Definition: Measurement units for market volume and aggregations for statistical analysis.
  • Relevance: Essential for quantifying market data, understanding consumption patterns, and evaluating trends.

5. Population Profiles:

  • Definition: Demographic characteristics of a population, crucial for interpreting tables and charts.
  • Application: Helps contextualize market data and draw insights based on the demographics of consumers.

6. Market Value Impact:

  • Definition: The influence of consumer behavior on the actual value of a product market.
  • Implication: Understanding the market value impact enables marketers to align strategies with the latest consumer behaviors.

7. Private Label Products:

  • Definition: Products manufactured by a retailer and sold under its own brand.
  • Significance: Private label products affect market dynamics, and marketers must differentiate their brands to avoid competition.

8. Cohort Groups:

  • Definition: Groups of individuals who share a common characteristic or experience within a specified time frame.
  • Application: Understanding cohort groups helps target marketing efforts effectively, considering shared characteristics.

9. Retailer Choice and Category Share:

  • Definition: Consumers' preferences for specific retailers and the distribution of market share among different categories.
  • Importance: Helps marketers tailor strategies based on consumer preferences and optimize product placement.

10. Trend Drivers:

  • Definition: Factors influencing consumers' product choices and behaviors.
  • Significance: Identifying trend drivers is crucial for adapting marketing strategies to meet evolving consumer demands.

In summary, this report provides a comprehensive analysis of the US Ice Cream market, including insights into consumer behavior, market trends, and strategies for marketers to navigate the evolving landscape.

The US Ice Cream Market: What Consumers Eat and Why? (2024)
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