Woolworths Group has the largest share of the fresh meat market, according to the latest Roy Morgan Fresh Food and Grocery Report.
The group holds 27.5 per cent of the more than $13 billion spent on fresh meat in Australia each year. It also has the highest number of customers, with 42.7 per cent of meat buyers having recently purchased from its stores.
In second place is Coles Group with 22.6 per cent of the fresh meat market. This is followed by specialist butchers (20.9 per cent), Aldi (10.6 per cent), other non-supermarkets (6.6 per cent), IGA (5.1 per cent) and other supermarkets (4.3 per cent). Produce markets take the remaining 2.3 per cent.
‘Notable’ changes in purchasing
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says long-term market-share trends show while buying meat remains a staple at 70 per cent Australians buying meat each week, the changing way Australians purchase fresh meat is having a big impact.
“Supermarkets now account for 70.2 per cent of the meat market and while Woolworths Group’s market share has remained steady over the past eight years, declining only 0.1 per cent points since 2011, there have been other notable changes,” she said.
“Butchers have declined in market share by 8.6 per cent points, with the big winners in scooping up their customers being Aldi (up by 6.9 per cent points), and Coles Group (up by 3.8 per cent points). The major supermarket brands continue to increase their share of the fresh meat market, while small retail butchers are in long-term decline.
“There are also significant regional variations to the fresh meat market with Woolworths dominant in Tasmania (41 per cent of the fresh meat market) and Queensland (32 per cent) while Coles has a leading position in Western Australia (30 per cent) and the Northern Territory (41 per cent). In South Australia, Foodland is just behind Woolworths as the leading fresh meat supermarket while butchers retain their highest market shares in NSW (22 per cent) and Tasmania (23 per cent).”