It may be National Ice Cream Month, but ice cream needs all the help it can get. According to recent data from Chicago-based Mintel and Information Resources Inc. (IRI), we’re not eating enough ice cream, as the array of frozen dessert choices (like pies and frozen yogurt) keeps expanding.
Sales of ice cream and frozen novelties grew only 9% from 2008 through 2013 to $11.2 billion. A slow climb, according to Mintel, that equates to a loss of 1% when adjusted for inflation. Backing up this slow growth trend is recent data from IRI; the ice cream/sherbet category showed dollar sales up 1.1% to $6.1 billion, with units also up 1.1% to 1.6 billion, in the 52 weeks ended May 18, 2014.
The ice cream segment still leads overall within the ice cream and frozen novelties category, but that’s more from familiarity, not sales, said Mintel.