Sales of ‘healthier’ milk on the rise

Simon Wilkinson
March 04, 2013
News Limited Network

SALES of company branded milk are on the rise, with consumers increasingly prepared to pay more for milk that they believe has a health benefit for the family.

The volume of company branded milk sold is now neck-and-neck with the volume of home brand – the same as it was before supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths began selling milk at $1 a litre.

The shift is attributed to the rise of A2 milk, as well as campaigns from dairy companies, including the promotion of permeate-free milk.

Analysis from Roy Morgan Research has found that company branded milk now has 50 per cent share of the market, up from 42 per cent in late 2011.

Supermarkets introduced $1 milk in early 2011.The trend is also reflected in Aztec supermarket scan data collected for Dairy Australia that shows branded milk now selling at close to pre-$1-per-litre levels.

As well as the interest in A2 and permeate free milk, Dairy Australia concludes “interest in greater provenance is also likely to have some bearing on new supply and marketing arrangements for fresh drinking milk”.

Warren Reid, group account manager at Roy Morgan, said shoppers were starting to think more about the health of their family than their hip pocket.

“People still look at milk as a staple part of their diet,” he said. “The healthy aspects of this are driving some of the marketing. It’s all impacting in terms of how the consumer thinks about their product purchase when they are at the shelf. The decision maker is thinking about the family first.”

The focus on health is reflected in the sales figures for A2 milk which now has more than 4 per cent of the total fresh milk market.

Mr Reid said his company’s research showed a spike in total milk volumes sold when $1 milk was first introduced but that had now flattened off.

“I think people said ‘Great, it’s on the shelf, I’m going to buy more of it because it’s cheap’. So volume went up. “The drop off we’re seeing is people saying ‘I bought too much of it. It wasn’t working for me and I had to throw some away’.”

“I think people are over it. They are past the $1 milk campaign. They are now on to the fact that permeate-free is there, A2 is there a few things about health are coming through.”

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