By following certain trends, ice cream and frozen novelty manufacturers could help sustain the huge retail sales bump they achieved during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ice cream and frozen novelties shows no signs of cooling down. At retail, sales of the comfort food staples soared during early pandemic purchase sprees, and that trend has sustained over the past year. According to data from Chicago-based market research firm IRI, ice cream’s retail dollar sales jumped $16.8% over the 52 weeks ending Dec. 27, 2020. Unit sales over the same time period were up 12%.
It’s an even brighter story for ice cream’s sister category: frozen novelties. Dollar sales increased 18.1%, and unit sales rose 10.6%.