BakeryandSnacks reviews the performance of the US salty snacks market this year, breaking down IRI data to reveal the biggest selling brands in each of the key salty snacks subsectors.
Overall dollar sales of the US salty snacks market rose by 3.4% year-on-year to over $22,6bn, according to IRI data for the 52 weeks ending June 11, 2017.
Combined unit sales for each of the sub-sectors was up 1.89%, almost reaching 10 billion items, while the average price per unit was $2.30, rising 0.03% from a year ago.
Popcorn saw the biggest growth in the past year, ratcheting up a massive 9.68%, but only came in as number five in sales when compared with the other salty snack sub-sectors (excluding nuts).
The star performer in dollar sales was the potato chip segment with almost $7,36bn.
Top selling salty snacks
Source: IRI 52w/e June 11 2017. IRI is a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide)
The growth of these two sub-categories was reflected in the performance and sales of Frito-Lay (the number one brand in both categories).
According to owner PepsiCo’s chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi during the company’s earnings call earlier this week, was the biggest contributor to the total US food and beverage retail of all the $5bn-plus manufacturers with sales of over $4.4bn.
Sales of the Lay’s-owned Smartfood brand rose by almost 25%, while Lay’s Potato Chips was the top selling brand in the US with sales of $2.18bn.
Top 10 brand performers: Potato chips
Source: IRI 52w/e June 11 2017. IRI is a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide)
Top 10 brand performers: Tortilla/Tostada chips
Source: IRI 52w/e June 11 2017. IRI is a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide)
Top 10 brand performers: Other salted snacks (no nuts)
Source: IRI 52w/e June 11 2017. IRI is a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide)
Top 10 brand performers: Cheese snacks
Source: IRI 52w/e June 11 2017. IRI is a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide)
Top 10 brand performers: RTE popcorn
Source: IRI 52w/e June 11 2017. IRI is a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide)
IRI data showed relatively flat sales (0.35%) in the pretzel category over the past 52 weeks at $1.2bn.
Snyder’s-Lance, which still dominates 38% of the sector, saw a small rise in sales (3.1%) to $454m, while Frito-Lay saw a 5% decline in sales to $167m.
Last year, while still in the position of CEO of Snyder’s-Lance, Carl E Lee Jnr said snacking was growing, but so too was the number of options. Lee left the company declining sales earlier this year.
Last month, the board permanently appointed interim CEO Brian Driscoll as they have been impressed by the significant progress he’s made since taking over.
Top 10 brand performers: Pretzels
Source: IRI 52w/e June 11 2017. IRI is a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide)
Top 10 brand performers: Corn snacks (no tortilla chips)
Source: IRI 52w/e June 11 2017. IRI is a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide)
Top 10 brand performers: Pork rinds
Source: IRI 52w/e June 11 2017. IRI is a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide)
The above graphs demonstrate the dominance of Frito-Lay on the US salty snacks market, which Nooyi accredited to some important characteristics that make the company’s brands appealing to consumers.
She said Frito-Lay products are often purchased on impulse and are highly complementary to other food and beverage purchases.