6 Tips to Create a Better Snack Set
By Abbey Lewis on Sep. 01, 2017CHICAGO -- Twelve percent growth or 2%: Which is more alluring? For the year ending May 2017, the c-store industry enjoyed $18.7 million in snacks and sweets sales, according to SPINS. The total category grew just 2.1% over the year prior—not outside the norm for a largely mature category. But natural and specialty/wellness snack products saw 12.7% and 5% sales growth, respectively.
CSP spoke with category managers, c-store operators and more to gather ideas on how to integrate better-for-you (BFY), natural and organic snacks into plan-o-grams full of core SKUs.
Here are six tips that stood out ...
1. Remember your core
“Even though better-for-you is on trend, indulgence still plays a key role in consumer snacking,” says Christina Dokos, senior vice president of marketing for Eby-Brown, Naperville, Ill. She advises giving legacy top sellers proper placement. “It is important the retailer evaluates the space available and their customer base and integrates better-for-you based on the demand, not the trend,” she says.
Product specifics
Plentils, a lentil chip product that’s gluten-free-, kosher- and halal-certified, and Non-GMO Project verified, became a $2 million brand; Annie Chun’s seaweed snacks, which are USDA-certified organic and vegan, and dairy- and gluten-free, earned $6.8 million in sales and 7.6% growth; and certified gluten-free and Non-GMO Project verified Crunchmaster Rice Crackers took in $52.2 million in sales and grew 7.7%, according to IRI.
2. Pushing protein
Portability, protein and plant-based products have emerged as major themes in the better-for-you snack category. Likewise, claims about organic certification, ingredient transparency, dairy or no dairy, vegan, grains, hormones, and local sourcing are boosting sales of better-for-you snacks.
3. Spread the Love
“To make room for the healthier items, we have cut back on multiple facings and reduced duplicative offerings,” says Jonathan Ketchum, senior vice president of retail for Odessa, Texas-based Alon Brands, whose product mix includes 20% natural, organic and better-for-you snacks. “We’ve found that the optimum placement is within the category section and not in a separate ‘healthy’ area.”
4. Indulge indulgence
“There’s always a place for indulgent. But you have to think about the consumers you serve in your particular market and hone your assortment based on their preferences,” says Susan Viamari, vice president of thought leadership for Chicago-based IRI.
5 & 6. Trial & cross promotion
Testing and trial
“Try dedicating a high-traffic endcap for healthy products to start with. As you identify winners on the endcap, you can then try to incorporate them into your regular sets,” says Randall Aycock, director of marketing for Fremont, Calif.-based AU Energy, which operates Shell-branded gas stations and c-stores in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Cross promotion
“We execute aggressive [marketing] programs at the cooler that always help drive snacks, because we found that once someone buys a single-serve beverage, they seem to gravitate to the snack endcaps,” says Josh Lund, operator of Beaudry Express, Elk River, Minn.
NOTE
These products do not represent all the items that would work in a convenience store, nor necessarily how they should be set; they are examples of products for a c-store snack plan-o-gram. Please visit CStoreProductsOnline.com to see more options and ideas for a c-store snack set.