The ice cream category can be a very competitive place. Overall, the ice cream/sherbet category saw little improvement and unit sales actually decreased, partially thanks to frozen yogurt. Meanwhile, the frozen novelties and ice cream segments showed some promise.
The frozen yogurt segment dragged down the total sales in the ice cream/sherbet category (more on that below). The category showed dollar sales up 1.4% to $6.3 billion, but saw a 0.5% decline in unit sales, to 1.6 billion, according to Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Chicago, for the 52 weeks ended Nov. 1, 2015. The frozen novelties category fared a little better, with dollar sales up 3.7% to $4.7 billion, and unit sales up 0.5% to 1.5 billion.