Breakfast snacks, fruit, chocolate and cheese are topping the charts in the snack category, according to two new studies.
Breakfast cereal sales may be on the wane, but much of it was diverted to the new breakfast snack category, which features products like Belvita breakfast biscuits, according to a US report from New Nutrition Business called The snackification of breakfast: How changing consumer habits are creating new opportunities.
According to Australian researcher Nielsen, however, while skipping breakfast is evident among more than one-third (38 per cent) of the 96 percent of Australians who regularly consume snack foods, a larger number – 46 per cent – skipped lunch in favour of a snack in the past 30 days.
Fewer Australians seem to miss dinner though, it found, with 33 percent turning to snacks instead of eating a proper night-time meal.
Nielsen found that when it comes to the types of food Australians most commonly snack on, healthy habits prevail by a slim margin, with 64 per cent of respondents saying they’d consumed fresh fruit as a snack in the past 30 days – the most popular choice overall.
However, chocolate was a very close second with 62 percent opting for a sweet treat, followed by cheese by just over half (54 per cent) of the Australians surveyed.
“The competition for ‘share of stomach’ is extremely fierce with a large range of snack options available,” the head of Nielsen’s Retail Industry Group, Kosta Conomos, said.
“It’s pleasing to see healthy choices come out on top, but only just, with the regular favourites of chocolate, biscuits and chips all ranking highly with at least half of Aussies who snack, choosing each of these options in the past month.”
When reviewing regional results across APAC the preference for organic snacks is lowest in Australia and New Zealand, with 46 per cent and 41 per cent respectively preferring organic snack foods compared with 84 per cent of consumers in China and 83 per cent in India. ‘All natural’ snacks are even more popular among consumers in China (88 per cent), the Philippines and Indonesia (86 per cent) compared with Australia (62 per cent) and New Zealand (56 per cent).
“Differences between consumers in this market and Asia are evident; this presents large implications for exporters looking to gain market share across the region. I’d urge any local manufacturer looking to break into this market to undertake proper market studies first to ensure their food offerings are appealing to Asian consumers and meet their needs,” said Conomos.
Cereal sales revenue is increasingly being diverted to new breakfast snacks like Belvita.
