Sharing bags have become a major earner for convenience retailers in the crisps market, but other trends that are making an impact this year include the continuing growth of premium hand-cooked crisps and healthier baked snacks.
For convenience retailers who don’t have a big range of sharing bags of crisps, it’s worth noting that 86% of households buy sharing packs across the year at least once a month.
That sharing sector is currently growing at +6.7% and is continuing to be developed with new products and promotional activity, such as price marked packs.
Matt Goddard, Head of Impulse Field Sales at PepsiCo, says: “With many shoppers looking for ‘value for money’, PMPs allow retailers to demonstrate this and Walkers offers an extensive range of sharing PMP’s – 61% of shoppers say knowing a shop sells PMPs makes them more likely to visit.”
The Walkers portfolio offers a wide variety of snacking options and multiple sharing bags for shoppers to choose from. Walkers has six of the top 10 best-selling sharing brands in impulse, with three in the top five – Doritos, Sensations & Walkers Core. For retailers, it is worth examining your own sales and looking at how close you come to replicating this. If you have too many low value lines in your own top 10, then you’re losing out on profits.
Goddard says: “To maximise sales, retailers should stock a range of the best-selling sharing bags – and ensure it’s a range that is right for them – for example, if you only have space for five sharing lines then we recommend you stock the top five best-selling sharing packs. If you have room for 10 then stock the top sellers accordingly.”
Gambling on success
Doritos has launched a new variant to its range – Doritos Roulette – which PepsiCo says is perfect for all sharing occasions. Doritos Roulette offers consumers the perfect sharing experience with a spicy twist, allowing friends and family to take it in turns to delve into the unknown for their chance to taste once of the seriously spicy chips. The randomly placed fiery hot tortilla chips are covered with invisible spice making them completely unrecognisable and hidden amongst the tangy cheese chips. These spicy chips are the hottest that Doritos has ever produced – with the liquid used on them being 10 times hotter than a Jalapeño pepper.
One of Walkers biggest launches of late has been MixUps, which offer a selection of different flavours and textures all mixed together in one bag. The range is available in three product formats – Snacks, Popcorn and Crisps.
“When it comes to snacking at home, large sharing bags and multi-pack products, as well as re-sealable pots or tubs, are popular with shoppers,” says Hena Chandarana, Trade Communications Controller at United Biscuits. “Whether staying in alone, or with friends and family, nights in often encourage consumers to try out new flavours, especially across popular existing product ranges.”
As you’d probably expect, she extolls the benefits of the United Biscuits range, right across its baked snacks portfolio. She says the company provides the right pack formats and merchandising advice to meet the growing snacking trend. “For example, for at home snacking we would advise spotlighting relevant products to customers by positioning them close to point of sale and alongside complimentary categories such as dips and drinks, in order to boost sales of these packs,” she says.
Since parting with KP Snacks in 2012, the focus on baked as opposed to fried has been a fundamental priority for United Biscuits. Its bagged snacks, including Jacob’s Mini Cheddars, Jacob’s Crinklys and the Oddities ranges are poised to boost further growth in the category alongside brands such as Jacob’s Twiglets.
“The largest growth driver on Jacob’s has been the re-launch of the brand as part of our new Masterbrand strategy,” says Chandarana. “This has involved bringing all our Crackers and Baked Snacks (with the exception of Carr’s) under the single banner of Jacob’s, giving the products a consistent look and feel across our packaging and our advertising.”
Another trend is the continuing growth of premier products such as Kettle Chips and Tyrell Crisps. One of the key players in this sector is Corkers. The company’s spokesperson says that premium hand cooked crisps have become an interesting market as the consumer looks for an alternative from the norm. “Food origin and provenance have become more important factors in the shopper’s decision and often a high-end crisp company like ourselves can offer that reassurance and story. The hand cooked market is getting more interesting and continually growing, causing companies like Walkers to launch Deli range in order to keep market share. Strong artisan brands like Corkers with a unique story are saught after and market leaders.”
There has also been an increase in alternative and gourmet snacking products such as popcorn or pork scratchings and, as an alternative to potato crisps, vegetable crisps.
At Corkers, the launch of its new vegetable crisps will be playing its part in this year. “We have invested a large sum of money into our factory as to be able to manufacture the vegetable crisps as well as the potato crisps,” says the spokesperson.
Ritz get thin
Ritz is taking advantage of the growth in savoury snacks with the launch of Ritz Crisp & Thin, which Mondelez International says draws on the brand’s baking heritage and expertise.
Ritz Crisp & Thin will be launched in four flavours – Cream Cheese & Onion, Sea Salt & Vinegar, Sweet Red Chilli and Sea Salt & Black Pepper. These will be available in both sharing and single bags, to meet both entertaining and on-the-go occasions.
