Ice cream brand sees export sales rise as it strengthens international foothold

Mackie’s of Scotland scooped up an impressive 37% increase in export sales for its luxury ice cream during the last financial year. 

The family-run business saw its highest ever international sales in 2022/23 with export revenue hitting £2.8m, up from £2.05m in 2021/22. 

Currently the Aberdeenshire farm exports to 13 countries around the world including the USA and the Gulf States of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Dubai. 

However, Mackie’s enjoys its strongest showing in East Asia: with Taiwan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan amounting to 95% of its total export sales. 

Taiwan sits atop the rest, taking the title as Mackie’s largest overseas customer. Last year, Consumers in Taiwan alone purchased over one million of Mackie’s Traditional tubs, which if laid in a straight line would stretch from Mackie’s Aberdeenshire farm to Edinburgh. 

Managing Director of Mackie’s of Scotland, Stuart Common (pictured above) said: “Since we first started exporting to a handful of family run ice cream parlours in Seoul in 2002 for the FIFA World Cup hosted in South Korea, we have seen steady growth in overseas demand for our products.” 

The quality and consistency of Scottish food and drink products generally has helped create a “Made in Scotland” brand in and of itself, which has found strong support from consumers across the world.” 

He added: “This most recent burst in export sales comes as countries and international supply chains begin to recover from the pandemic, and consumers are eager to taste and try foods they have not necessarily had access to for some time.  

To bolster this, Mackie’s have widened the scope of products which we offer to our overseas customers – providing them with new flavours like our Honeycomb, which they might not have in their national markets. 

This has resulted in a terrific uplift in sales worldwide and our partnerships with our international distributors have never been stronger. We’re optimistic that this trend will continue over the years to come, as Mackie’s and Scottish food and drink further cement their place in international consumer’s minds as simple, consistent and of the highest quality.” 

The family-run brand’s biggest seller abroad is its Traditional ice cream tub, followed by its Honeycomb flavoured ice cream. 

Stuart commented: “Our ambition is always to grow, while still delivering quality to our consumers, and we are working on creating new relationships with distributors to reach more customers around the world.

We have set ourselves challenging targets for the upcoming year to maintain this upward trajectory and are looking forward to sharing Mackie’s with more ice cream lovers around the world.” 

The exports success follows a flurry of new listings within the UK with the brand securing its Honeycomb ice cream tubs in 245 Waitrose stores in a deal anticipated to be worth around £500,000 in retail sales.

Mackie’s has also secured a renewal in its UK-wide Sainsbury’s listing, with its Honeycomb flavoured ice cream being sold in over 500 stores around England and Wales.

This, combined with its decision to resist price increases, has led to Mackie’s adding half a million customers across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to its significant existing share in Scotland, where it occupies over 20% of the ice cream market. 

As well as being the largest independently owned ice cream manufacturer in the UK, Mackie’s is one of the UK’s top ice cream brands, with its one litre Traditional tub among the best-selling premium ice cream products in the UK.  

The company produces all its ice cream using fresh milk and cream from the dairy herd at its fifth-generation family farm, Westertown, near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire.