Homegrown Bikanervala Foods Pvt. Ltd, which sells a range of packaged snacks under the Bikano brand, also launched two new products—Mexican Crunch and Fun Sticks. In a statement, Bikano said it will build on its “western" snacks category for children and the youth.
Manish Aggarwal, director, Bikano, Bikanervala, said the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown in 2020 led to a drastic change in the eating habits of most Indians. The earlier established pattern of three meals a day transformed into a “multiple snacking pattern" with high nutritional-value snacks being preferred over fast food, he said.
Chocolate and cookie company Mondelez in its Annual State of Snacking report in December 2020, too, mentioned that two-thirds of Indians snacked more during the pandemic. In fact, 77% of those surveyed said they preferred snacks to meals. However, the survey was conducted last year when work from home was the norm and mobility had not picked up.
Snacking category volumes grew 8% between April-May 2019 and April-May 2020, and jumped further a year later to 12% between April-May 2020 and April-May 2021, Aggarwal said, citing Kantar data. Clearly, demand for packaged cookies, chips, noodles and macaroni grew as consumers created new in-home eating occasions during the pandemic.
Even with people increasingly stepping out, Karthik Ganesan, partner, consumer products, retail and strategy practice, Bain and Company, does not foresee a slowdown in the snacking category. Most offices will continue to follow the hybrid work model, Ganesan said. In the past 18 months, both salty snacks and biscuits witnessed low to high teens growth in value terms. “A big chunk of this was consumption-led (versus price-led in the pre-pandemic times)," he said.
While traditional Indian snacks (namkeens) make up about 50% of all branded salty snacks and have continued to grow in double digits, bridged and extruded snacks are around 35% of all packaged snacks and will grow faster (in high teens). “They will drive penetration in consumption occasions for younger consumers," Ganesan said. Snacks that are shaped differently (like Kurkure) are counted among bridged and extruded snacks and are popular as they are lighter and have more pieces in a pack than, say, regular chips.
The other perceptible change is the move towards healthier eating, a trend accelerated by covid. “Before purchasing packaged food, people can be seen enquiring about the ingredients, avoiding any food with preservatives and artificial food colouring," said Aggarwal.
“A majority of them are actively seeking snacks that are high-protein and vitamin-rich. With rapidly shifting consumer choices, it is almost certain that new players will enter the market to capitalize on the rising trend," he added.
To be sure, new-age startups in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) segment have already taken the lead in occupying the white spaces in healthy snacking. Multiple D2C brands, such as YogaBar, True Elements and Gladful, have been launched and funded in the past two-three years, said Ganesan.
Although launches may have been led by online-first firms, more and more offline players are also recognizing the need to expand their portfolios and address more need spaces and occasions, he said. “This can be seen in the new launches by Mondelez, such as Fuse Fit or Bournvita Crunchy, both playing on healthy and mindful snacking," he said.
Aggarwal said innovations in packaging with multiple serving options in ready-to-eat food products is also propelling growth in the category with leading firms looking beyond chips. Packaged salty snacks and biscuits is an over ₹65,000-crore market and growing, he added.
More than 65% of all snack consumption is now branded versus less than 40% a few years ago, Ganesan said. Branded snacks category is poised for growth with more brands entering the fray, consumers switching from unbranded products, increasing consumption occasions fuelled by work from home and premiumization through healthier snacking options.
Shuchi Bansal is Mint’s media, marketing and advertising editor. Ordinary Post will look at pre-ssing issues related to all three. Or just fun stuff.
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Food firms want a bigger bite of snacking category - Mint
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