In cereals we trust!: Overall presentation of the Cereal Market

The story of breakfast cereals began with Granula, invented in the United States in 1863 by James Caleb Jackson. Since then, a lot of different techniques have enabled people to create new kinds of cereals. Thus, in the food industry, the cereal market could be considered as one of the widest regarding its offers. There is a very wide range of products to answer to very different and specific segments.

Even if eating cereals for breakfast is initially an “American-style breakfast”, there are varied countries that have adopted this kind of meal for their breakfasts.

Source: Euromonitor International

However, people from one country to another do not eat their cereals the same way. For example, in France, people like to blend some cereals with yogurt and fruits. The two brands Danone and Kellogg’s made a partnership to promote a new product “Les Matins Activia”.

While in Spain, people like to dump All-Bran cereal into their coffee, so the marketer is now advertising it this way.

John Bryant

According to Kellogg’s CEO John Bryant,

[the strategy looks] "at how we can adapt our foods to the local habit, as opposed to trying to change the local breakfast habit".

Still there is no doubt that the cereal business remains rooted in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia (54% of global consumption). But in the U.S. cereal will grow by just 3.6% from 2011-2016, compared with 38% in China and 108% in India, according to a Euromonitor forecast.

We can definitely say that the global cereal market is a very dynamic and inspiring market. It was valued at $29.1bn in 2011 and estimated to reach $29.5bn in 2012. The market is shared between 6 leading competitors:

· Kellogg’s: #1 in market share (34%) but is losing share to General Mills and private label. The kids segment of the cereal market continues to loose market shares to more adult or all family brands. Unfortunately for Kellogg’s, they happen to have a greater share of the kids segment.