According to new Kantar research, duck sales are up 27% over the 52 weeks from January 2024 to February 2025 across both branded Gressingham and own-label products.
As one of the only branded poultry producers, Gressingham’s vigorous marketing activity over the last 12 months has seen its own brand duck sales increase by 15%, whilst also driving more interest to the poultry section as a whole.
“Marketing has been a key part of our strategy over the last 12 months and that increased investment has paid off in excellent sales growth for duck,” explains Rebecca Alderton, brand manager for Gressingham Foods.
“In 2024 we invested in TV advertising for the first time, as well as new recipe development, packaging redesign, in store promotions as well as placing more emphasis in social media activity, all of which has contributed to our impressive growth in sales for Gressingham Duck brand and own label products over the last 52 weeks,” continues Rebecca.
Unlike other proteins there is no government funded marketing board for duck, therefore the Gressingham brand is key to the success of the category. As such, it is down to Gressingham’s strong marketing strategy, comprehensive promotional schedule and new distribution channels that UK household penetration of duck has increased significantly over the past 10 years. In 2015, household penetration accounted for 15%, and has now grown to 17.6% (Gressingham branded product makes up 11.3% of that percentage).
“As the only major supplier of ducks in the UK, we use the Gressingham brand as a tool to grow the category as a whole and our increased consumer engagement not only boosts sales of our own duck products, but of poultry as a whole,” adds Rebecca. “We intend to continue investing in marketing this year with a strong programme of activity that will continue to drive sales.”
Based in East Anglia, Gressingham now owns or contracts 121 poultry farms across the UK, employing 650 people (rising to 1,200 during their Christmas campaign). Gressingham has one factory and rears 10 million ducks per year and 800,000 turkeys. Still very much a family business, Gressingham is now run by Maurice and Miriam’s sons, William and Geoff, and Managing Director, Chris Morley.
