The Snacks’ Trends

The Snacks’ Trends

A snack is a small portion of food eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms and shapes, including packaged snack foods, and other processed foods. But for a few years, snacks have been redefined considering the shifts in consumer behavior. 

The snacks market is a highly competitive market and led by innovation because of the rapidly moving preferences. Even though the crisis forced people to stay at home and cook more, the snacks industry has remained strong because consumers are willing to spend more on gourmet and healthy snacks. 

The industry has been well settled for many years now because of the “on the go” consumers’ lifestyles. It is growing at a CAGR of 3.37% over the next 5 years.

 Here are the most growing trends on the snacks market.

1- Healthy snacks as a meal substitute

Busy lifestyles have led people to snack more and eat less real meals. With the Millenials and Gen Z increasingly open to trying new diets, international foods and meal substitutes, there are many opportunities to innovate and grow for the players of the snacks industry.

To adapt to this shift of consumption, manufacturers start introducing superfoods and nutrients to their snacks’ recipes : the goal is to meet the needs of consumers who prefer snacking 4 to 6 times a day rather than having 3 meals while providing them the nutritious intakes and energy they need to go through the day. 

Many companies understood the message and a new segment appeared on the market : pharmafood : snacks, food supplements are developed by scientists and nutritionists and prevent specific health/organism issues. 

Source : Grand View Research

2- Naturally Sweetened Snacks

In many countries, especially the US and some countries in Europe, people are used to snacking, but they snack on too much added sugar. This has led to an increasing ill population : obesity, diabete, heart disease, cholesterol etc. 

But people are raising their awareness about the issue and if they still want to snack, they want to find sustainable products for their health.

As a consequence, new segments are coming on the market :

• Food sweetened with dates as cereals, raw bars or granola to replace the high processed ones

• Canned instant oatmeal in which people add toppings as fruits, seeds, nuts butter etc.

• No added sugar or plain yogurts : people start adding their own fruits and more natural sweetener to avoid transformed ones. 

Consumers prefer snacks with whole ingredients that provide a low intake of sugar and can provide satiety for a longer time.

3- Online retail as a driver for the market

With the main actors of the sports nutrition selling mainly through the online retail, this gained market shares given that they are an important player in the snacks industry.

This trend is reinforced by social media since these brands collaborate a lot with influencers on instagram, and now TikTok to sell their products at a discounted price. 

Also, the offline retail’s disruption during the pandemic has led consumers to buy snacks on online groceries. 

For now, it represents 1% of the global sales only. But experts say that digital will influence 77% of all the retails sales worldwide in the next few years.

Related article : Nutritious Food Trends

uFoodin Team