Highlighting milk’s natural health benefits in-store and showcasing farming messages on pack could encourage shoppers to buy more, new research suggests.
The study has shed light on how supermarket aisle design and milk packaging could drive greater shopper engagement and protect long-term sales.
The dairy sector remains the most valuable grocery category, worth £16.4 billion in the year to 12 July 2025, and present in more baskets than any other category.
Yet, according to AHDB/YouGov’s Consumer Tracker earlier this year, around one in five consumers are considering cutting back on dairy products.
Emma Wantling, retail and consumer insight manager at AHDB, explained the purpose of the levy organisation's latest project.
“Our ‘Optimising milk in-store’ research aims to help retailers and processors by providing evidence as to what shoppers are looking for in aisle and on pack that would influence behaviour and, in turn, protect and grow sales.
“This study follows AHDB’s 2024 meat labelling and aisle research that resulted in aisle redesigns and point of sale optimisation for multiple major retailers.”
The research combined a quantitative survey of milk shoppers with a consumer immersion phase, which tested 3D virtual aisles and more than 4,000 unique pack combinations to determine the most effective communication routes.
The results showed that health communication in the aisle had the strongest influence. When presented with messaging around milk’s natural nutritional benefits, 25% of shoppers said they would buy more milk than usual.
The single most effective message was "milk naturally contains 7 vitamins and minerals – vitamins B2, B5 and B12, calcium, iodine, potassium and phosphorus," which was associated with perceptions of milk as high quality, inspirational and exciting.
On-pack communication proved equally critical, with consumers responding most positively to farming-related messages.
Packaging featuring cow-centric visuals of grazing animals, paired with messages such as “Dairy produced in the UK is to world-class food and farming standards”, performed best.
Becs Goodwin, category development controller at Müller, welcomed the findings: “AHDB’s fixture and packaging strategy is built on deep consumer insight, and Müller is proud to be part of the work to shape the fixture of the future.
“This collaboration reflects our shared ambition to reinvigorate the dairy aisle and inspire consumers with the benefits of milk."
The research was undertaken by AHDB in collaboration with Linney and milk processors, including Müller UK & Ireland.
