Greggs says its brand has been of “paramount importance” in driving growth amid low consumer confidence in 2024, as the bakery and hot food business once again increased sales by double digits.
Greggs grew its sales 11.3% in 2024. Its sales now exceed the £2bn mark, reaching £2.01bn in the year. Pre-tax profit was also up, reaching £203m in the year, up 8.3% versus the year prior.
The business’s CEO emphasised to investors the importance of the strength of the Greggs brand in driving that growth, she cited data from Brand Finance, which ranks Greggs as the second strongest UK brand and afforded it a triple A ranking.
“[This ranking] demonstrates that we are deeply rooted in customers’ minds – a key advantage in the food-to-go market, where success is driven by being front of mind when customers are seeking food-on-the-go,” CEO Roisin Currie told investors today (4 March).
She also presented data from YouGov BrandIndex suggesting it is the number one brand based on value perceptions and in the food-to-go sector. The data, which the Currie showed to investors today, also shows improvements in the brand’s quality perceptions, as well as levels of consideration and purchase intent versus 2021 levels.
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Claiming “the brand is in better shape than ever”, the business stated this was particularly notable given the challenging consumer backdrop and the fact the food-to-go market overall has been static, citing Circana data to back this up.
Greggs cited PR initiatives and CRM as key ways in which it continues to engage consumers with its brand. It identified “generating media coverage” through its “tongue-in-cheek” activities as a key pillar of its communications strategy, giving examples like the launch of a 22-carat gold jewellery collection and a pop-up Greggs champagne bar.
Greggs wants to further establish itself as a “multi-channel food-to-go” brand, something which its digital channels, and in particular its app, are essential to. The app was scanned in 20.1% of company-managed shop transactions in 2024, up from 12.5% in 2023. Those who engage with the app are “proven” to shop at the business more regularly, it said.
It identified effective CRM as “key to unlocking further growth from the app”. It has introduced a new engagement platform, allowing the brand to gain more granular insights into its consumers. This has enabled initiatives like inviting top app users in particular areas to events like its champagne bar pop-up or the launch of the jewellery collection.
Another example it gave of how it is utilising its app is a CRM campaign it ran over the summer, aimed at driving more evening trade by offering double stamps to app members.
“During this campaign we saw a strong uplift in evening like-for-like sales compared to other dayparts, and transactions remained higher following the campaign, showing the lasting effect of the promotion,” it said.
Continuing to expand to different occasions
Expanding Greggs across different dayparts has been a crucial goal for the business for some years now, with much of its innovation, such as expansion of the pizza range, aimed at this goal.
It hailed the continued success of this strategy in today’s full-year results. In 2024, the evening time continued to be the brand’s fastest growing daypart in terms of sales, up 9% versus 2023 levels.
It continued innovating in the year to expand its consumer appeal across different occasions, including by introducing more hot food options and successfully trialling “made-to-go” options for the lunch and evening dayparts.
Greggs remains the number one food-to-go brand in the breakfast occasion, it said, citing Circana data. The British brand has been putting its rivals under pressure, particularly in the breakfast occasion.
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Speaking to investors last month, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said: “We have a very strong local competitor [in the UK], who’s been very aggressive from a value standpoint, particularly on breakfast.”
While he did not name a specific brand, with Greggs now claiming top spot in the daypart, as well as trumpeting its value perceptions, it is likely the global giant is coming under pressure from the bakery brand.
Looking to this year, CEO Currie told investors that 2025 looks “tough” from a macroeconomic perspective. Despite this, given the brand’s continued strength amid a difficult backdrop, she expressed confidence it would see “material opportunity to continue growing and developing the Greggs estate and plenty of scope to continue to grow in newer dayparts and channels”.
