As the cost-of-living crisis continues to restrict consumer spending, more people are looking to trade down on red meat and dairy to save money, according to a new report.

Some people trade down to cheaper proteins and private-label products from branded and also switch between private-label tiers. Such private-label product sales now contribute 88% or £10.6bn to total red meat according to figures from Kantar for the year ended August 6, 2023, and 64.4% or £5.6bn to total dairy sales

According to a report from AHDB, while value-tier products are only a small part of red meat volumes (7.7%), value-tier volumes have grown massively, up by 35.6% year-on-year (YoY).

Similarly, for dairy, just 2.4% of all volumes are made up of private-label value-tier products, although the past year has seen a 47.9% rise in value-tier volumes.

Increases to value tier volumes over the last year were seen for beef (+59.1%), pork (+30.0%) and lamb (66.1%), in part due to gaining volumes from shoppers switching out of branded, premium, and standard tier products, as customers trade down tiers to reduce their spend on food.

Lamb has a very minimal tiering with smaller value and premium tiers compared to beef and pork, and it is generally seen as a more premium red meat. However, value tier volumes did rise, alongside growth in premium tier largely through a 29.6% rise in premium ready meal volumes.

Beef value tier price rises (+28.6%) were much greater than standard (+10.3%) and premium (+10.8%) over the year to August 6, 2023.

The value tier remained cost-effective at nearly £3/kg cheaper than standard.

Best-performing beef value tier products saw mince top the list, with sales volumes growing by 179.8% YoY over the same period. In general, largest value tier volume gains were seen for cheaper cuts and family favourites.

According to the report, consumers do not want to fully remove their favourite products but instead want to save money by purchasing the value tier versions, which is shown in a 63.2% YoY increase in volume sales of sliced cooked meats.

Pork staple products like sliced cooked meats and sausages have seen value-tier growth. Sliced cooked meat value tier saw the largest increase in actual volumes up 28.3% YoY.

Sausages are the cheapest value tier cut at just £2.10/kg and saw value tier volumes grow by 31.9% YOY, gaining share as standard tier growth was only 3.6% YOY (Kantar, 52 w/e 06 August 2023).