Abstract
Healthier fare is certainly not the only trend in packaged snack foods, but it
is by far the most important and widespread one, driven in large part by a
heavy national focus on children's health. Although sales of packaged snack
foods in the U.S. topped $61 billion in 2005, this is up only 6% over 2001
sales, since good returns from "healthy" categories like yogurt and fresh
fruit have been mostly offset by losses in "less healthy" categories like
candy and cookies. Whereas some marketers are well positioned to ride the
health wave, others have been rushing to come up with nutritionally enhanced
products, while also scrambling to show how even not-so-healthy snacks can
still fit into a healthy diet. Health-related trends that continue to gain
momentum include portion control, high fiber/whole grains, cutting unhealthy
ingredients (trans fats, processed sugar, fat, etc.), and natural/organic,
even as product portability and convenience remain a top priority across all
categories as more Americans graze more frequently on-the-go. Because kids
snack even more than adults do, it is critical that snack makers maintain a
hold on this young demographic, and attracting consumers of all ages to
healthier snacks without severely cannibalizing sales of more traditional,
not-so-healthy ones will be the fine line that marketers will have to walk in
the coming years. Snack Food Trends in the U.S. examines the market for
packaged snack foods from a trend perspective, detailing sales and consumer
usage trends across six sweet snack categories (candy, cookies & bakery,
yogurt, food bars, fruit, and gelatin/pudding cups) and five salted snack
categories (salty snacks, crackers, nut snacks, popcorn and rice/popcorn
cakes, and dried meat snacks). The discussion is organized into four focus
chapters-Sweet Snacks, Salted Snacks, Trends in Healthy Snacking, and Trends
in Kids and Teens Snacks-homing in on the market-altering forces in each area
down to the brand level, identifying top dollar sales gainers and comparing
winners and losers across dozens of market segments and hundreds of products.
Key data sources are Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan sales tracking data
and Simmons Market Research Bureau (New York, New York) consumer surveys for
adults, kids, and teens.
Report Methodology
The information in Snack Food Trends in the U.S. is based on both primary and
secondary research. Primary research involved on-site examination of the
retail milieu, interviews with marketing, public relations and industry
analysts within the food market and consultants to the industry. Market size
data was derived from Information Resources, Inc. Secondary research entailed
data-gathering from relevant trade, business, and government sources,
including company literature. New product information is gathered via
literature research, personal interviews and data compiled by ProductScan, a
service of Datamonitor. Consumer behavior patterns and data were derived from
Simmons Market Research Bureau's National Consumer Survey for Fall 2005.
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