Dive Brief:
- Jared Koerten, Euromonitor International’s senior food analyst, said more snack manufacturers are looking for ways to interest consumers in products outside of the grocery store channel, according to Baking Business.
-
Some of these methods include click-and-collect shopping models, home delivery, drive-thru and vending.
- Koerten noted that online retail sales for savory snacks is increasing, and growth could reach as high as 30% in 2017.
Dive Insight:
Recent Euromonitor data suggests that the time consumers spend buying general consumer goods has decreased 16% over the past 10 years, while the time spent grocery shopping has remained flat.
Still, snack foods themselves are on the rise. A recent study from The NPD Group revealed that nearly a quarter of all snack food eating (24%) occurs during main meals, up from 21% five years ago. Millennials and younger consumers are snacking more than ever.
Euromonitor research shows that c-stores, gas stations and local specialty stores have seen the largest increase in snack sales globally, as fewer people are going into grocery stores. As a result, retailers who are utilizing options such as click-and-collect shopping models, home delivery and drive-thru are seeing greater success than those that don't. One in five shoppers reported grocery shopping online in 2016, up from 16% in 2015, according to the Food Marketing Institute — a change in behavior to which both grocers and manufacturers need to adapt.
Amazon recently launched Amazon Wickedly Prime, its own snack company offering a private label for cookies, tortilla chips, popcorn and salty snacks. When used with Amazon Dash, a push-button ordering service that orders shipments of consumers’ favorite products when they run out of them, it makes purchasing extremely easy. Snack companies should seek out e-commerce opportunities like this to cater to consumers' snacking habits, or risk getting passed over for brands that are more easily available.