Having survived the recession intact, UK frozen food marketers look ahead.

One hesitates when there seems to be a different crisis erupting somewhere in the world nearly every day -- either real or exaggerated by the news media -- to predict even three months ahead the economic background that the frozen food industry must work against. But, and it is a big but, there are definite hints that 1993 will finally see an upturn in the United Kingdom's economy.

The signs are not yet being featured by members of the media, who are still enjoying themselves by castigating the government on every possible count. They are therefore ignoring, or are ignorant of, the fact that both small and large businesses are at last feeling their way toward more investment -- often investing in equipment replacement or modernization that should have been done over the past year or two. And the housing market has certainly begun to suggest an upturn now that "Sold" boards are appearing once again.

Of course consumers have learned to look for bargains and price has become the main competitive thrust of the retail stores. There are plenty of "on pack" offers, very often featuring extra weight rather than money off because the raw material prices into the factories do not yet seem to have been greatly affected by last autumn's devaluation of sterling.

Couponing has not really figured in these promotions, but then that form of "attraction" has not been used in Britain very much anyhow. UK retailers find coupons to be too much trouble and, anyway, they are much more interested in pushing their own labels which feature a price differential with the manufacturer brands.

There has been a lot of talk in the trade press recently about the demise of brand names. So it was interesting to read that Michael Perry, chairman of one of the world's largest suppliers of consumer goods, said: "Whilst some commentators have taken the view that the age of the brand is over and that the power and mystique are finished, Unilever brands are very alive and kicking strongly. And it was indeed the company's branded consumer goods which last year bucked the recessionary trend in Europe."

It is also worth mentioning that leading retailers in the UK such as Sainsbury, Tesco and Safeway have benefited greatly from the promotion of their store brands. Surely what is good for the gander is still good for the goose! It is in the retail sector that the most lively changes are occurring, with the so-called "discounters" really taking off.

There has also been a considerable increase in the number of grocery sales units found on petrol forecourts. Fortunately these new types of outlets tend to feature frozen foods, and certainly they carry plenty of ice cream. It is up to the QFF industry to take another look at its distribution strategies to maximize brand sales to compensate for the loss to retailer own labels in the superstores.

Even during the recession, several of the leading UK branded frozen food suppliers continued to develop new items and to maintain a reasonable presence on TV. Birds Eye in particular spent its normal budget on advertising and constantly launched new or improved product versions. Its quality-oriented Fish Cuisine and Vegetable Cuisine seem to be attracting excellent distribution despite the fact that they are not cheap.

McCain has also kept a high profile for its potato ranges - again with new items. In fact there is an amazing variety of potato products on the UK market and it surely is no longer a case of "chips with everything."

The ready meal ranges have also been heavily promoted with Birds Eye (Menumaster and Healthy Options) and Findus (Red Box) leading the way. It is perhaps a little surprising that with all the spend on meals they still had only a 7% share of the total UK frozen food market in 1992, whereas fish and vegetables each claimed 16%, and even meat-based products racked up a 10% share.

Ice cream sales accounted for 9% of frozen food volume, but had a large share of the confectionery market as well. Indeed, this sector is now seeing a battle royal between the very long established Wall's brand (which enjoys something like two-thirds of the market) and newcomers such as Mars (which has launched ice cream versions of most of its well known count lines but is nonetheless struggling to find adequate retail cabinet space.

Of course Nestle will be watching the outcome of any such investigation since it bought the failed Clarke Foods company which owned the Lyons Maid brand. What a pity that there has to be infighting when marketing should be all about widening the customer base.

Another big name, Heinz and its Weight Watchers sub-brand, is also in the ice cream sector. But it still spends much more on ready meal ranges (Menu Plus and now Oriental Plus).

All in all, though, things are looking up in the United Kingdom. In this reporter's view, the frozen food industry has survived the recession and is poised for more exciting developments in the next few years.