2. The Love/Hate Relationship Continues
The ice cream industry continues to suffer from many of the same challenges of recent years, but shrinking consumer demand is the biggest. Of the 7 categories in the table on page 1 of the Profiler, 5 recorded decreases, and some substantially.
Recent Mintel research found that 19% of consumers are buying fewer frozen treats because of continuing health concerns, choosing fruit and yogurt alternatives instead.
Upsides for the industry are research sources that report approximately 80% of adults eat frozen treats, people would rather eat ice cream than pie and Millennials claim ice cream is their favorite summer food.

3. Sales in Small Scoops
Ice cream production decreased 0.8% through August 2015, before the slight rebound of +0.7% three months later, as indicated in the chart on page 1 of the Profiler.
Dollar sales did increase 2.5% for the 52 weeks ending August 9, 2015, but were solely based on a 9-cent average increase in price, not an appreciable increase in units sold.
Private label ice-cream brands had the largest dollar sales for the 52 weeks ending August 9, 2015, at $1.125 billion, but Talenti scored the greatest 1-year change in dollar sales, 57.0%, and unit sales, 54.4%.

4. Frozen Yogurt Meltdown
Although recent consumer research revealed that 78.9% preferred frozen yogurt compared to just 8.8% for ice cream, dollar sales and units sales for the top 10 brands declined significantly, according to the table below.
The 7 largest frozen yogurt franchises added a net of 25 new locations from 2014 to 2015; however, the largest, Yogen Fruz had a net loss of 117 while Red Mango increased 57, Rita’s Italian Ice, 42, and Menchies, 39.
Private label frozen-yogurt brands were also #1 in this category with $64.42 million in dollar sales and 21.2 million in unit sales for the 52 weeks ending August 9, 2015, but Dannon Oikos was the big winner with 86.0% and 84.7% increases, respectively.

5. Other Categories Given the Cold-Shoulder
Although not spectacular, the frozen novelties section, with a 3.5% increase in dollar sales and 0.6% increase in unit sales, performed better than frozen yogurt and sherbets and sorbets, which had a 2.7% decline in dollar sales and 4.7% decline in unit sales.
Among frozen novelties, private label brands led with $459.8 million in dollar sales and million in unit sales, but Nestle Drumstick was a much closer second than in other categories, at $420.5 million in dollar sales.
Although dollar sales and unit sales declined for private label sherbets/sorbets brands, their dollar sales and unit sales were both more than 300% greater than #2 Häagen-Dazs. Again, Talenti was the big winner in this category with 49.6% and 49.8% increases, respectively.

6. Top Shops
In Nation’s Restaurant News’ 2015 Top 100 Restaurant Chains, Dairy Queen was 20th ($3.2 billion in total sales), Culver’s was 47th ($1.0 billion in total sales) and Baskin-Robbins was 79th ($544 million in total sales).
Baskin-Robbins added the most franchise units (+223) from 2015 to 2016, but Dairy Queen is still the #1 ice-cream franchise chain by total units (4,451).
Two frozen treats shops – Ben & Jerry’s and Häagen-Dazs Shoppe – topped Nation’s Restaurant News’ Consumers Picks of Limited-Service Restaurants (LSR). In addition, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream was #7 and Red Mango, the yogurt chain, was #8.

7. Advertising Strategies
Help supermarkets and ice cream shops to plan promotions that maximize sales during July and National Ice Cream Day. These could include a free scoop with a three-scoop cone or dish or a low-carb cone to balance the fat content in ice cream.
To continue to drive sales during the remainder of the warm season, stores and shops could consider a discount for any day when the temperature exceeds the average by X number of degrees or a free scoop during any day when the temperature exceeds 95 or 100.
Promote and distribute free bottles of water during a hot day in support of keeping people hydrated and to generate traffic entering the shop.

8. New Media Strategies
Promote an Ice Cream Selfie Day, inviting customers to photograph themselves and their children enjoying ice cream: babies’ ice-cream-smeared faces, someone chasing a drip on the cone with his/her tongue, someone trying to balance a multi-scoop cone, etc.
Host a contest asking for social network visitors to post their favorite ice cream story with 25 words or fewer. Invite everyone to vote for the best. The winner has a new flavor named for him or her for a month. Give each voter access to a mobile coupon.
National Ice Cream Day is the perfect occasion to use Meerkat or other live streaming apps, to “broadcast” an hour or more of the day as a live event. Interview customers about the flavor they chose and the owner/manager about new flavors and healthier choices.