Coles and Woolworths continue to gain share in fresh fruit and vegetable market
Analysis of long-term market trends shows that in 2018 Australia’s two largest supermarkets captured more than 51% of Australia’s $18 billion fresh fruit and vegetable market between them.
Market leader Woolworths Group with a 27.4% share, up 1.3% points since 2017, and Coles Group with a 23.9% share, down 0.7% points, had a combined share of the fresh fruit and vegetable market larger than all other retail outlets including rival supermarket IGA, fruit shops, markets, other supermarkets and other non-supermarkets combined.
Woolworths enjoyed stronger growth in the fresh fruit and vegetable market over the past year than rival Coles, who despite increasing their number of buyers in an average seven day period had a decrease in the share of market.
Fruit shops now account for just under 16% of the market.
These are the latest figures from Roy Morgan’s Supermarket Grocery Currency Report to March 2018.
Australian Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Market Share
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia) April 2017 - March 2018, n = 15,067.
Base: Last 7 Day Fresh Fruit/Veg Purchasers aged 14+, April 2017 - March 2018, n = 10,878 weighted to Australian households.
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says:
“Australia’s ‘Big Two’ supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles now capture over 60% of Australia’s $100b+ grocery market – see analysis here.
“In recent years the Big Two have been moving to consolidate their market shares in various fresh food markets including fresh fruit & veg, fresh meat, fresh bread, fresh deli and fresh seafood.
“Woolworths has the largest market share in dollars spent, with 27.4% of the total fresh fruit and vegetable market. This is significantly more share than Coles, who average almost the same number of weekly shoppers for fruit and vegetables but only have 23.4% of the total market share.
“It’s not surprising that supermarkets are increasing market share as many Australians buy at least some of their fruit and veg at a supermarket, even if they also buy some at a market or fruit shop. 56% of Australians who purchased fresh fruit or vegetables from a fruit shop also purchased fruit or vegetables from a supermarket in an average seven days.
“With the emergence of fruit delivery services and the anticipated release of Amazon Fresh in Australia, the pressure on fruit shops will be even greater. We expect to see fruit shops surviving in areas where supermarkets don’t deliver great fruit and vegetables, and in areas where consumers are actively choosing specialist food and the fruit shop offers something special.
“The Supermarket & Fresh Food Currency Report contains a detailed overview of the food & grocery market in Australia today together with trended data spanning nine years. The report covers the total grocery market, as well as reporting on all sub-categories, namely: Supermarkets, Fresh Meat, Fresh Delicatessen items, Fresh Bread and Fresh Fruit/Vegetables.
“The report looks at long and short-term trends for the market size and share (in dollars), customer numbers and cross visitation at major supermarkets and for each grocery category. All data is at a National level, and state-based reports are available on request.”
For comments or more information please contact:
Roy Morgan - Enquiries
Office: +61 (03) 9224 5309
askroymorgan@roymorgan.com
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
