In 2025, the ice cream market saw a 10% increase in revenue, largely due to favorable weather. But it also remained a true pleasure product for consumers. What will be the new trends for 2026?
With the recent heat, have you been tempted by ice cream? In 2025, the market was particularly dynamic with a 10% increase in revenue and a 9.5% increase in volume, announced Nicolas Léger, insight director at NielsenIQ, at the annual meeting of the Ice Cream Companies Association (AEG) on Friday, April 10.
“Ice cream remains the undisputed star of summer, and climate change is contributing even more to it,” he said. Thus, 48% of volume sales were made in the month of June alone, which was one of the hottest ever recorded. June 21, for example, was the best day in three years, with sales of nearly 19.3 million euros.
In terms of profiles, seniors remain very attached to ice cream. They represent 35% of revenue, as well as the 50-64 age group, compared to only 3% for those under 35.
These figures partly explain the success of “classic” formats. Popsicles recorded the highest growth (+11.6%), followed by cones (+10.5%), tubs (+10.4%), cups and mini-formats.
The success of bites
But this year, “there has been the emergence of a new segment: bites,” said Nicolas Léger. 8.9 million were sold in 2025, nearly 6 million more than the previous year. The trend was launched on social networks with the Franui brand, followed by many variations.
Unlike popsicles and cones, bites have attracted more young people (28% of 18-34 year-olds). And for good reason, it is a category of age group “curious and who like to try new things in their diet,” emphasizes the insight director of NielsenIQ.
This new product category, and innovation in general, has allowed ice cream to become more seasonal “which is now part of the daily life of the French,” points out Fabrice Ducasse, president of AEG. Sales are indeed increasing throughout the year.
There were more than sixty innovations in 2025, a 16% increase compared to 2024, and these were “more successful”: +25% average revenue per innovation.
With issues of purchasing power and an anxious political context, ice cream has once again become “a refuge, a pleasure product” for consumers, who mostly eat them with their families. On average, they spent 7 euros per consumption, compared to 6.70 euros the previous year, or about 60 euros per year.
Ice cream has also adapted to the changing habits of the French. It finds its place more and more as a snack in the evening, but also at snack time. Proof that, “even if issues of healthy eating are increasingly coming into play, there is still a gap between declarations and the reality of consumer practices,” analyzes Nicolas Léger.
Innovations for 2026
For 2026, many trends are beginning to emerge, notably, and you surely won’t have missed it, the importance of pistachio linked to the phenomenon of Dubai Style chocolate. Just like peanuts. In this sense, Magnum has just released a milk chocolate-pistachio ice cream in popsicle and white chocolate and pistachio heart cone. Extreme, meanwhile, has a peanut and caramel cone.
This year, brands will also play on textures and original shapes. For example, a donut-shaped ice cream from the Miko brand with chocolate and cookies. The ice cream sandwich is also another strong trend. It consists of ice cream covered in biscuit. Lotus has just launched its product, made from these famous speculoos biscuits.
Bites will also, once again, be part of the offering. To differentiate themselves from fruit bites, Solero has released frozen bites in exotic or strawberry flavors.
What will be the ice creams of the future?
In the longer term, “we must continue to innovate constantly, as there are consumer expectations,” confides Nicolas Léger. For example, we could see ice creams for athletes (protein-based, with electrolytes, etc.), or even ice creams with benefits for seniors (with collagen), or even… ice creams adapted for dogs!
But professionals are also considering bringing back products that were successful in the past to evoke nostalgia, or even being inspired by innovations from other countries. This is what the Bachir group did, by importing the concept of Lebanese ice cream.
