Food & Drink

Food Consumption: All four food consumption indicators (food consumption in local currency, food consumption in US dollar terms, per-capita food consumption and food consumption as a % of GDP) relate to off-trade food and non-alcoholic drinks consumption, unless stated in the relevant table/section.

Off-trade: Relates to an item consumed away from the premises on which it was purchased. For example, a bottle of water bought in a supermarket would count as off-trade, while a bottle of water purchased as part of a meal in a restaurant would count as on-trade.

Canned Food: Relates to the sale of food products preserved by canning; inclusive of canned meat and fish, canned ready meals, canned desserts and canned fruits and vegetables. Volume sales are measured in thousand tonnes as opposed to on a unit basis to allow for cross-market comparisons.

Confectionery: Refers to retail sales of chocolate, sugar confectionery and gum products. Chocolate sales include chocolate bars and boxed chocolates; gum sales incorporate both bubble gum and chewing gum; and sugar confectionery sales include hard boiled sweets, mints, jellies and medicated sweets.

Trade: In the majority of BMI's Food & Drink reports, we use the United Nations Standard International Trade Classification, using categories Food and Live Animals, Beverages and Tobacco, Animal and Vegetable Oils, Fats and Waxes and Oil-seeds and Oleaginous Fruits. Where an alternative classification is used owing to data availability, this is clearly stated in the relevant report.

Drinks Sales: Soft drink sales (including carbonates, fruit juices, energy drinks, bottled water, functional beverages and ready-to-drink tea and coffee), alcoholic drink sales (including beer, wine and spirits) and tea and coffee sales (excluding ready-to-drink tea and coffee products, which are incorporated under BMI's soft drinks banner) are all off-trade only, unless stated in the relevant table/section.

Mass Grocery Retail

Mass Grocery Retail: BMI classifies mass grocery retail (MGR) as organised retail, performed by companies with a network of modern grocery retail stores and modern distribution networks. MGR differs from independent or traditional retail, which relates to informal, independent-owned grocery stores or traditional market retailing. MGR incorporates hypermarket, supermarket, convenience and discount retailing, and in unique cases co-operative retailing. Where supermarkets are independently owned and not classified as MGR, BMI will state so clearly within the relevant report.

Hypermarket: BMI classifies hypermarkets as retail outlets selling both groceries and a large range of general merchandise goods (non-food items) and typically over 2,500m² in size. Traditionally only found on the outskirts of town centres, hypermarkets are increasingly appearing in urban locations.

Supermarket: Supermarkets are the original and still most globally prevalent form of self-service grocery retail outlet. BMI classifies supermarkets as over 300m², up to the size of a hypermarket. The typical supermarket carries both fresh and processed food items and will stock a range of non-food items, most commonly household and beauty goods. In addition, the average supermarket will increasingly offer customers some added-value services, such as dry cleaning or in-store ATMs etc.

Discount stores: Although most commonly between 500m² and 1,500m² in size, and thus of the same classification as supermarkets, discount stores will typically have a smaller floor-space than their supermarket counterparts. Other distinguishing features include the prevalence of low-priced and privatelabel goods, an absence of added-value services - often called a no-frills environment - and a high product turnover rate.

Convenience stores: BMI's classification of convenience stores includes small outlets typically below 300m² in size, with long opening hours and located in high footfall areas. These stores mainly sell fastmoving food and drink products (such as confectionery, beverages and snack foods) and non-food items, typically stocking only two or three brand choices per item and often carrying higher prices than other forms of grocery store.

Co-operatives: BMI classifies co-operatives as retail stores that are independently owned but which club together to form buying groups, under a co-operative arrangement, trading under the same banner, although each is privately owned. The arrangement is similar to a franchise system, although all profits are returned to members. The term is becoming more archaic with fewer co-operatives remaining that conform to this model. Most co-operative groups now have a more centralised management structure and operate more like normal supermarkets, and are thus classified as such within BMI's reports

This article is tagged to:
Sector: Food & Drink
Geography: Global

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