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SNACKS AUSTRALIANS LOVE A SALTY SNACK Lunch box inspiration and flavour exploration are driving the savoury snacking market. By IRI Senior Consultant Sally Elstub. The savoury snacking consumer landscape Australians are snacking more now than they have in the past three years. We know that almost every household (99.8 per cent of those surveyed) in Australia has purchased savoury snacks (chips, wrapped bars, savoury biscuits, snacking nuts) in the past year, but what is interesting is the frequency and proliferation of the range of snacks in consumer baskets. In 2019, three out of 10 shopping trips contained these goods and two-thirds of surveyed shoppers bought a savoury snack each week. Spend on snacking categories out of $10 Chips Savoury Biscuits $2.00 Wrapped Bars $4.00 $6.00 Snacking Nuts $4.05 $2.82 $1.89 $1.24 This resulted in the average Australian household buying 90 savoury snacks a year, with the heaviest buyers shelling out $462 in total. Chips are the most $- popular addition to the basket, with $8.00 $10.00 snack shoppers allocating $4.05 in every $10 category spend to chips, followed by savoury biscuits, wrapped bars and snacking nuts.1 Market drivers for the snacking category In 2019 the lucrative $2.99bn savoury snacking industry achieved respectable dollar growth of 4.1 per cent, well above total grocery growth of 2.7 per cent. The category also had an increased innovation focus with a number of new products entering the market. Chips, the largest segment, drove this positive performance with value growing 5.6 per cent, followed by bars at three per cent, savoury biscuits 2.9 per cent and nuts 2.6 per cent.2 Consumer dynamics Consumer dynamics within savoury snacks has led to two dominating themes that are delivering growth. These are lunch box fillers that are ‘fun’ and ‘new’ for families, and new flavours to keep shoppers returning to the brand. The IRI Shopper Panellists reinforce these trends, with 61 per cent of surveyed snack shoppers agreeing that they like to try new products/brands, and a similar proportion agreeing that they like to experiment with food and try new things.2 Lunch box fillers: who spends the most? Households with children at home spend the most on snacks, which act as lunch box inspiration, making this a sought-after demographic for leading manufacturers. Bucking the health trends, the LCMs brand captured the imagination of parents with LCMs Coco Pops Cookies & Cream (NPD), which built on the success of LCMs Unicorn (in 4.7 per cent of surveyed households). Kellogg’s has also shaken up the lunch box options by shifting Pringles away from the traditional tin format to launch into multipack varieties, which have proven very successful, finding their way into 8.4 per cent of surveyed households in their first year alone. Flavour experimentation: consumers more adventurous In a mature category such as snacking, flavour has long been the grounds for experimentation to entice new shoppers into brands and increase the value of existing shoppers through high trial rates. Last year Pringles launched the successful Mystery Flavour campaign and will run the campaign again this year. Of the successful NPDs in the past year we saw Asian flavours pop with Red Rock Deli’s Pot Thai Red Chilli & Creamy Coconut, as well as local favourites through Lamington (Smith’s) and Vegemite (Arnott’s). With less than a third of IRI’s Australian shopper panellists saying they perceive that “the name of the brand I buy is important to me”, retailers and brands should take risks and do so at speed in order to take the next step in their evolution. For global brands and retailers, the question is whether they can be both big and fast. References 1. IRI ShopperView, National Panel, MAT 2/2/20 – unless otherwise specified. 2. IRI MarketView, AU Grocery, MAT 5/1/20. About IRI IRI is a leading provider of big data, predictive analytics and forward- looking insights that help FMCG, OTC healthcare, retailers and media companies to grow their businesses. With the largest repository of purchase, media, social, causal and loyalty data, all integrated on an on-demand cloud- based technology platform, IRI helps to guide its more than 5,000 clients around the world in their quests to remain relentlessly relevant, capture market share, connect with consumers and deliver market-leading growth. For more information on how IRI can provide data and insights to grow your business, visit IRIworldwide.com.au, or phone 02 8789 4000. 50 RETAIL WORLD APR, 2020