All the major manufacturers of branded ready-meals lost significant value sales between 2003 and 2007. In the frozen ready-meals sector, Birds Eye's sales slumped 37.2%, Heinz/Weight Watchers fared slightly worse, declining by 40.3%, while Findus is down by 43.2%.
Patak's axed its ready-meal range earlier this year and Oriental Express went into liquidation last year.
By comparison, the own-label frozen ready-meal sector is down by just 15.9%.
Brands have fought back with the introduction of products to tap into healthy eating trends and provenance; Findus has tied with Jean-Christophe Novelli, while Birds Eye has recently launched Eat Positive.
Vivianne Ihekweazu, senior consumer analyst at Mintel, said branded goods had been unable to compete with supermarkets' in-store promotions for their own-label ready meals.
Marks & Spencer's ready-meal sales have also suffered due to rival supermarkets' premium ranges, such as Tesco Finest.
Ready meals
- Weight Watchers from Heinz has introduced a premium low-calorie range called Taste Temptations.
- Birds Eye is traditionally the biggest advertiser, but in 2007 it allocated its budget to fish fingers and frozen vegetables.
- Tesco has reformulated its ready meals to contain no artificial preservatives, flavours, colours or hydrogenated fat. It also relaunched its Healthy Living range this year.
- Retailers have recently shifted toward ready-meals that require cooking, such as Sainsbury's Super Naturals.
- Source: Mintel
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