The delicatessen market - France (2024)

1.2 The global market

Precise information on the global delicatessen market is difficult to obtain. The luxury food market , on the other hand, is a little larger, and shows a clear upward trend, with a compound annual growth rate (***) of **.**% over the period ****-****. In seven years, it would increase from $*** billion to $*** billion in value.

Global luxury food market forecasts World, ****-****, in billions of dollars Source: ****

SIAL Paris (***) estimates that the global delicatessen market will be worth around ** billion euros by ****. It reports more modest growth rates than those for luxury foods over the coming years, but still significant: +*.*% in the United States, +*.*% in China and India in **** and ****. [***]

In Europe, consumers remain attached to their gastronomic heritage and quality products. France, Italy, Spain and Portugal are particularly buoyant regions for the sector, as are certain Eastern European countries. In Asia-Pacific, the trade magazine Le Monde de l'épicerie fine analyzes that"demographic change, the emergence of a middle class with strong purchasing power and the influence of the Western lifestyle are all factors that will weigh in the balance".

On the other hand, growth is less strong in the Middle East, South America and Africa, despite a few countries to keep an ...

1.3 French market

The French delicatessen market was estimated at * billion euros in ****, or **% of the global market. It could grow by *.*% between now and ****. [***]

Sales forecasts for the delicatessen market France, ****-****, in billions of euros Source: ****

This potential growth is corroborated by the trend in annual sales for food retailers in specialized stores, a category that includes delicatessens, of which there will be *,*** by the end of ****. From **** to ****, this sales figure rose from ***.** million euros to ***.** million euros, an increase of **% and average annual growth of around *.*%.

Notable growth peaks are seen in **** and ****, when sales rose by **.**% and **.**% respectively compared with previous years. The significant rise in **** could be linked to an increase in the consumption of luxury food products in response to the Covid-** pandemic, where consumers, deprived of restaurants, spent more on premium products for their at-home culinary experiences.

After stagnating in ****, sales rose again significantly in **** to ***.** million euros, indicating renewed growth and demand for food products in these stores, such as delicatessen products.

Sales growth trend for other food retailers in specialized stores France, ****-****, index *** base **** Source: ****

The delicate economic context (***) should, however, prompt caution. The Luxury Trend Report ****carried out by IFOP, which analyzes ...

2.1 The French are looking for better quality products

**% of French people say they want to consume more quality products. The same proportion consider this theme to be "important to them". With this in mind, **% of consumers trust delicatessen products.

The French relationship with cooking and delicatessen products France, ****, in Source: ****

This interest in better-quality food is reflected in choice criteria: when buying a delicatessen product, the French consider composition to be the most important factor (***), signs of quality, are also factors to which they pay attention.

French people's choice criteria when buying a delicatessen product France, ****, in Source: ****

2.2 A desire to "eat better" likely to be undermined by inflation

French consumers' desire for higher-quality food products could be curbed by inflation. Household spending on food products rose by **.*% in ****, to ***.* billion euros, but this increase was due solely to inflation. In volume terms, food purchases fell by *.*% over the year, reflecting lower actual consumption.

Annual variations in French household food expenditure France, ****-****, in Source: ****

This downturn in purchases mainly affects the least affluent households and young people, whose monthly food budget is below the national average (***). conversely, it remains higher for wealthier households and French people aged ** and over.

Monthly food budget by situation France, ****, in euros Source: ****

Less affected by the consequences of inflation and high prices, these consumers represent a major clientele for delicatessen products, whose main characteristic highlighted by **% of consumers remains their high price. **% also consider them to be luxury products.

French people's opinion of delicatessen products France, ****, in Source: ****

2.3 The French are increasingly familiar with delicatessen products

More and more French people are buying delicatessen products. In ****, **% bought them very regularly or from time to time, nine points more than in ****, the year of the first survey conducted by Le Monde de l'épicerie fine. The proportion of people who never buy this type of product has fallen, from *% to *.*% in ten years.

Purchase frequency of delicatessen products France, ****, in Source: ****

Another sign of the democratization of these products is that **% of those questioned believe they can buy delicatessen products at any time, compared with **% in ****. However, certain periods are still strongly associated with these purchases, notably the festive season and, increasingly, vacations: **% of consumers find these periods favourable for purchasing this type of product, double the figure for ****.

Favourable times to buy delicatessen products France, ****, in Source: ****

A delicatessen product is seen above all as a token of quality, which can also be used as a gift. It's also interesting to note that tradition and innovation coexist: consumers are looking both to value know-how and traditions, but also want to find something new.

Answers to the question "For you, a delicatessen product is above all..." France, ****, in Source: ****

The French buy their delicatessen products through a wide ...

2.4 Delicatessens, emblematic points of sale

Delicatessens are a major distribution channel in the market. They are cited by consumers as the second most popular place to buy delicatessen products, behind small retailers but ahead of supermarkets (***).

**% of customers go there for their daily consumption, but the majority frequent them for specific occasions: gifts to offer or guests to receive."Delicatessens are increasingly the kind of shops where people come for gifts: Christmas, Valentine's Day or Mother's Day, there's no shortage of occasions," notes Le Monde de l'épicerie fine in its Baromètre de l'Épicerie Fine of early ****.[***]

Reasons for customer visits according to delicatessen owners/sellers France, ****, in Source: ****

A third of customers visit a delicatessen at least once a week. The others, whose consumption can be linked more to specific occasions, visit less regularly. le Monde de l'épicerie fine nonetheless points out that "the good attendance (***) of customers who visit two or three times a month is particularly reassuring for the future of the sector".

Customer frequency according to delicatessen owners/sellers France, ****, in Source: ****

2.5 Tourists, a clientele to be taken into account

Tourists account for around **% of all delicatessen customers, and while they are far from the majority, they still represent a significant proportion.

Provence of customers according to delicatessen owners/sellers France, ****, in Source: ****

In ****, for **% of French people, vacations represented a favorable opportunity to buy delicatessen products, whereas only *% felt the same way in ****. [***]

As for foreign tourists, **% shop when they come to France, and they tend to frequent places where delicatessen references are available: department stores and small shops are the two most cited circuits, ahead of local artisans.

Foreign tourists' preferred shopping circuits during their stay in France France, ****, in Source: ****

The foreign tourist public is all the more important to take into account asit has been returning to France on a massive scale since the end of the Covid-** crisis. In ****, revenues generated by international tourism in France reached a record €**.* billion, up **% on ****, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism. According to specialist consultancy Protourisme, high-end food products are among the winners of this dynamic: "Visitors appreciate quality products like gastronomy and local produce, for example."[***]

3.1 Market value chain

The delicatessen market is characterized by its wide variety of distributors, all of whom can offer these food products for sale. After suppliers of raw materials and producers, who are involved in the manufacture of the items marketed and may also opt for direct sales, distribution can take place in a wide variety of places:

specialized outlets, such as delicatessens, which focus exclusively or almost exclusively on delicatessen products; in the more numerousnon-specialized channels, where delicatessen products make up only a minor part of the range. These outlets may be mainly food-oriented (***).

3.2 Production

In the delicatessen market, the scope of production is very broad, since a large number of food products are involved. To get an overview, it's worth looking at the overall figures for French agricultural production (***)

Plant production recorded its first increase in value in ****, followed by a second, more substantial one in ****, before falling back a notch in ****, to **.* billion euros. Volumes produced continued to climb in ****, however, +*.*%, but falling prices, -*.*%, explain why production declined in value terms.

The situation is slightly different for animal production, where the rise in value began in **** and continued in ****, at +*.*%. Soaring prices (***).

Source: ****

Overall, production figures have been trending upwards since ****, particularly in terms of value, a sign of a fairly dynamic sector.

Production of SIQO products

SIQO products (***). Spirits, ciders and olive oils are also down sharply, although SIQO production still accounts for a third to a quarter of the national sector's total production.

Some segments are holding up better, such as wines, which remain above the **% mark, cheeses, creams and butters, and flours, breads and pastries, even though the share of SIQO products in these segments is still very much in the minority.

Inao has not revealed the volumes produced for ...

3.3 Distribution

The distribution of delicatessen products involves a large number of players. Delicatessens account for between ** and **% of the market, while mass food retailers account for around **%. The remainder is divided between a multitude of segments: delicatessens, caterers, department stores, tourist and transit sites, specialized e-commerce sites, direct sales from producers, etc.

Market share of distribution channels in the delicatessen market France, ****, in Source: ****

Delicatessens

By the end of ****, there will be almost *,*** delicatessens in France, with an estimated market share of **-**%. They are "driving growth in the sector today". [***]

The majority of chains are independent and remain small businesses: more than a quarter have annual sales of less than €***,***, and **% between €***,*** and €***,***. The average number of employees, less than *, confirms the small size of these businesses.[***]

Distribution of delicatessens by sales revenue France, ****, in Source: ****

There are, however, a number of large networks, notably developing through franchising. These can be generalist, offering a wide range of products, or single-product, focusing on a specific offering. In ****, these concepts revolving around a specific type of product appear to be one of the "most dynamic" segments. [***] Some chains are also single-brand, while others distribute a variety of different brands.

In October ****, L'Observatoire de ...

4.1 Products

The delicatessen market is made up ofa multitude of food products, savoury and sweet, solid and liquid, oriented towards the top end of the market, and which may have multiple characteristics: artisanal, linked to a region or terroir, benefiting from a specific label (***), etc.

Teas, coffees and infusions, regional specialities and spices and condiments are the three categories of delicatessen products that the French consumed most often in ****.

Main delicatessen products consumed France, ****, % of total Source: ****

Most of this offer comes from France, but delicatessen products are also available from the world's major regions. In ****, **% of French consumers were buying delicatessen products from the Mediterranean region, **% from Asia and **% from Latin America.

Proportion of consumers buying delicatessen products by origin France, ****, in Source: ****

4.2 Prices

As delicatessen products are food products, they have suffered from the high inflation seen in this market since ****. Insee's consumer price index has risen by over ** points in three years, exceeding *** in the first nine months of ****.

consumer price index trends - food category France, ****-****, base *** in ****

Delicatessen products span a very wide price range. Differences between products sold in supermarkets and those sold in delicatessens can be very significant, ranging from double to quintuple or more.

For olive oil, for example, prices for * liter can range from €** to over €** per liter, depending on the brand, distribution channel and specific characteristics of the product. Carrefour organic oil, for example, will be sold for three times less than Arbequina, and five times less than Kalios.

For foie gras, the block price per kilo is almost four times higher for the La Grande Épicerie de Paris product than for the Carrefour Original.

Spreads are one of the best examples of price differences. While products sold in supermarkets, which are not considered delicatessen, are offered at less than €** per kilo, references found in delicatessens can easily exceed €** per kilo, i.e. more than five times as much.

4.3 E-commerce makes gradual progress

In ****, just under half of all delicatessens were involved in e-commerce via their own websites, but this proportion is set to increase in the future, with **.*% of establishments surveyed wishing to expand into this niche. "If there are still some holdouts, the feeling that home delivery and food e-commerce are becoming unavoidable is growing. [***]

Proportion of delicatessens already offering or wishing to offer services France, ****, in Source: ****

Whatever their size, more and more delicatessen retailers are launching their own sales websites or applications. In ****, Galeries Lafayette unveiled Le Gourmet, their e-commerce platform complementary to Galeries Lafayette Gourmet. "With a growing number of consumers turning to home delivery, this new e-commerce site brings an additional immersive dimension to the gastronomic experience and services offered by the store," the retailer explained. [***]

Le Bon Marché, which had brought La Grande Épicerie de Paris to the web back in ****, went one step further in **** with the delivery app La Grande Épicerie Chez Vous, which allows delivery * days a week, from *am to **pm. For this project, Le Bon Marché has teamed up with Deleev, parent company of online shopping specialist La Belle Vie. [***]

The emergence of these new players in food e-commerce represents an opportunity ...

4.4 Catering, an extended range: towards a broader delicatessen?

Many delicatessens do more than just sell food products. Positioning themselves as wine merchants, restaurateurs or greengrocers are already widespread potential related activities.

Proportion of delicatessens with ancillary activities France, ****, in Source: ****

This versatility is set to increase, with almost half of all delicatessens (***) was the most common potential additional activity, ahead of adding a tableware offering and devoting at least **% of their floor space to the sale of wine and spirits.

Main diversification avenues for delicatessens wishing to develop another activity France, ****, in Source: ****

These different activities appear to complement the traditional work of delicatessens, offering them the opportunity to boost their sales. In ****, catering accounted for over a quarter of the revenues generated by delicatessens that had implemented this proposition. The proportion is almost the same for those who have deployed a primeur or wine merchant offer, while tableware is less significant.

Proportion of delicatessen sales generated by ancillary activities when introduced France, ****, in Source: ****

Some brands are fully committed to this multiple positioning, such as Aix&Terra, which has seven "tables-épiceries" following its diversification into catering in ****. "The grocery world is complicated. People don't always understand the coherence of the offer. Grocers are looking to be more ...

4.5 Some major product trends

Non-alcoholic beverages increasingly in demand

More and more consumers are adopting alcohol-free alternatives (***), and are set to grow by a further *% every year between now and ****. In France, growth could even reach *%, thanks in particular to the success of alcohol-free beer and cocktails.[***]

Young people are the main adopters of this trend, as Hugues Le Marié, general manager of the Les Domaines Qui Montent chain of grocery-cellars, explains: "[***]

Proportion of consumers who have consumed alcohol-free drinks France, ****, in Source: ****

Delicatessen distributors therefore need to expand their alcohol-free offer to meet these new expectations. "From supermarkets to the most selective chains, more and more retailers are opening their shelves to alternatives", confirms Le Monde de l'épicerie fine in July ****. at that time, La Grande Épicerie de Paris counted nearly ** non-alcoholic wine and spirits references.

Specialized brands are also appearing, such as Le Paon Qui Boit (***) and Sanzalc. Gueule de Joie, which started out online, opened its first physical store in Nantes at the end of ****.[***]

Coffee beans become a must

A familiar product in the delicatessen sector, coffee has been enjoying strong momentum for several years now. Consumers are looking for quality, and a growing number are turning to coffee beans. ...

5.1 Legislation

Protected designation of origin (***)

Agri-food PDOs are protected at European level by :

parliament Regulation (***) No. ****/**** of November **, **** on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs and Commission Implementing Regulation (***) No ****/**** of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs

Wine PDOs are protected at European level by Regulation (***).

Protected Geographical Indication (***)

Agri-food PGIs are protected at European level by :

parliament Regulation (***) No. ****/**** on quality systems for agricultural products and foodstuffs ; commission Implementing Regulation (***) No ****/**** of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs.

Wine PGIs are protected at European level by:

Regulation (***) ;

Spirit PGIs are protected at European level by :

Regulation (***) No ****/** Commission Regulation (***) no. ****/**and of the Council on the definition, description, presentation, labeling and the protection of geographical indications of spirit drinks

Organic designation (***)

At European level, there are various pieces of legislation relating to AB:

Regulation (***) n°***/**** of June **, **** on organic production and labelling of organic products Commission Regulation (***) n°***/**** as regards organic production, labelling and inspection Regulation (***) No ***/**** as regards the arrangements for importing organic products from third countries

At national level, specifications have been approved:

Cahier des charges concernant le mode de ...

6.1 Segmentation

• Comtesse du Barry
• Fauchon
• Maison Brémond 1830
• Petrossian
• Valette
• La Grande Épicerie de Paris
• Galeries Lafayette Gourmet (groupe Galeries Lafayette)
• Printemps du Goût
• Pourdebon
• Le Palais des Thés
• Kusmi Tea
• Le Comptoir de Mathilde
• De Neuville
• Yves Thuriès
• Coffea
• Betjeman & Barton
• Eataly
• Carrefour Groupe
• Intermarché ITM Les Mousquetaires
• E.Leclerc
• Système U
• Auchan groupe
• Lidl France
• Edélices
• La Tour de Pise
• Kaviari Delikatessen
• L'Amour du Terroir
• Maison Balme
• Supermercato Giuseppe
• BienManger.com
• Mes Pep'eat