The "home economy" drives the continuous growth of snack consumption, and the "fourth meal" features prominently——
Snacks have become the "new rigid demand" for consumption
Daily nuts, Sichuan-flavored beef, dried cranberries, shredded bread... Now, when you open an online store, there are a wide variety of snacks, rich in flavors, and mouthwatering. Not long ago, an analysis by the Food Partner Network Industry Research Center showed that the compound growth rate of China's casual snack industry from 2013 to 2019 reached 6.7%. It is expected that the casual snack industry will maintain a compound growth rate of more than 6%. Nearly 3 trillion yuan, and it is expected to exceed 4 trillion yuan in 2025.
Many industry insiders said that the strong consumption of snacks has become a distinctive feature of the "home economy", behind which is the vigorous consumption vitality of the Chinese economy. Snacks are becoming the “new rigid demand” of consumption, which is not only caused by the changes in lifestyle in a special period, but also contains a long-term trend of consumption upgrades.
More and more snack "drama"
Although snacks are an embellishment of a happy life, they have increasingly become an essential part of many people's lives.
The 23-year-old Wang Ziwen is a student of a university in Shanghai and a snack lover. Since the beginning of this year, she will spend nearly 1,000 yuan on snacks every month. "Affected by the epidemic, I have stayed at home for online classes for most of the year, and I have been out less frequently, so I prefer to buy some snacks online. I found that online snacks are cheap and can be delivered to your door. The most important thing is to choose Very rich. For example, a few days ago, I bought a Japanese "net celebrity" raw chocolate through "haitao", and the store's freezing preservation is also very good." Wang Ziwen said.
Liu Xin, who lives in Qingdao, Shandong Province, likes to try fresh food. The rich variety of "net celebrity" snacks adds to the fun of her study and life at home. Liu Xin told the author that when he was fine, he often watched live snacks. On the recommendation of the anchor, he bought interesting and popular new products such as Liuxin egg yolk crisp, yam flakes, and milk tea. Not only did they taste good, they were also relatively affordable. "I like this experience very much and will continue to buy snacks through online shopping in the future."
Consumers who were originally "not cold" about snacks have also tended to be more open to snack consumption. They pay more attention to the meal replacement function and health attributes of snacks.
"I rarely eat snacks and don't know much about snacks. When I work overtime, I occasionally buy instant noodles, soda biscuits, and small breads to fill my hunger." Zhang Yang, a young man in Hebei, is a typical office worker, he told The author, since the beginning of this year, many times to work at home, many colleagues around me no longer go out to eat or order takeaways, but choose convenience foods such as shredded bread, self-heating hot pot, and self-heating rice at home. "In fact, as the types of snacks are increasing and the quality is getting better, more people are willing to buy cheap, high-quality food from the Internet."
Liu Qing, a housewife in Xi'an, said that she recently bought homemade biscuits with reduced oil and sugar, and various types of nuts that have not been processed deeply. They did not expect the taste to be very good and the prices were reasonable. Liu Qing believes that these small snacks can not only relieve gluttony, but also take care of health and control calories. They are very useful to "bao mothers" who want to keep in shape and relieve gluttons.
The "In-Depth Research Report on Leisure Snacks Industry 2020" released by the Mob Research Institute not long ago pointed out that casual snacks are mainly divided into several sub-categories such as roasted nuts, halogen products, baked pastries, and puffed food. As market penetration increases, The compound annual growth rate remained above 6%. The report shows that with the improvement of the epidemic prevention and control situation, the demand for home snacks has picked up, logistics and related companies have resumed work accelerated, and online snack sales have rebounded sharply, with the sales of nuts, pastries, biscuits, preserved meat, and preserves leading the way.
Seize the market and show their abilities
Faced with the ever-growing snack consumer market, major merchants resorted to "18 martial arts" to seize a larger market share.
"This year, the sales of snacks in the store have been good. The best-selling products are dry crispy noodles, dog tooth crispy rice, spicy noodles, shrimp crackers and other small-bag portable snacks. Among them, the highest-selling dry crispy noodles can sell 85,000 packs a month. At present, most of the products in our store have a unit price of no more than 10 yuan, which can be said to be cheap and good quality. The groups who like our snacks are mainly students." A seller of a snack store with nearly a million fans on Taobao I told the author that during the epidemic period, the store adopted a number of full reduction activities such as "69 minus 3, full 129 minus 5, and full 199 minus 10". The "live seckill" event was held from time to time, which not only guaranteed sales, but also " "Circle" has many new fans.
Wu Bin, the person in charge of the operations of the three squirrels, told the author that the epidemic has affected various industries across the country to varying degrees, and demand has shifted to rigid-needed categories. Among them, as the "fourth meal" snacks, although the overall sales have been suppressed to a certain extent, categories with meal replacement properties such as convenient fast food and pastries and bread have taken the opportunity to achieve high growth.
“Three Squirrels leveraged on the new advantages of the convenience and fast food category in 2020 to launch new popular products such as Samyang turkey noodles, Chongqing hot and sour noodles, and vegetarian small pots, which drove the growth of category sales. July 18 On March 31st, the three squirrels launched the Internet fast food brand "Tie Gongji" to promote convenient fast food and continue to meet consumer demand." Wu Bin said.
Zhang Xuewu, chairman of Yanjin Shop, said that the company’s product strategy’s focus and advance layout just cater to the demand for meal replacement foods during the epidemic, and Yanjin Shop’s bakery products have grown significantly. In Zhang Xuewu's view, the rising demand for snacks is an opportunity for leading companies with rich product categories to grab market share.
Yu Ruifen, founder of Laiyifen, said that offline physical stores are of irreplaceable importance for snack companies. Especially in terms of product testing, pleasant shopping experience and services, as well as strengthening brand stickiness and user loyalty, offline stores still have obvious advantages. "Next, Laiyifen will open new stores at a faster speed and further upgrade the brand image." Yu Ruifen said.
In addition to snack food companies, large e-commerce companies also attach great importance to the snack food market. Wang Junjie, Dean of Suning Retail Technology Research Institute, told the author that Suning, based on its comprehensive online platform advantages and offline network channels, will give full play to its own supply chain advantages, enhance brand favorability, open up all kinds of people, and use live broadcast to grow grass to drive zero food. The flow of traffic fans between categories and brands has seized the market opportunity of fast-growing snack sales.
"After significant progress has been made in the prevention and control of the epidemic, Suning.com and CCTV organized a series of live broadcasts of'Fighting with Hubei'. Such activities to help farmers and support economic recovery in severely affected areas quickly picked up. For example, local specialty snacks such as Wuhan duck neck Waiting for food consumption to increase significantly." Wang Junjie said.
The snack market is huge
The impact of seasonal changes on snack consumption also reflects the prosperity of the Chinese consumer market from one side.
Big data from Suning.com shows that in the past month, sales of cold drinks in Suning supermarkets have increased by 253% year-on-year. Among them, classics such as Baxi, Heluxue, Menglong, and Yili Qiao Lezi have endured for a long time. The three major cold drink brands of Guangming, Yili and Nestlé have long occupied the top three in sales. New Internet celebrity snack ice creams such as Northeast Iron Pot Stew, Zhong Xuegao, De's Dark Beer Ice Cream, Double Yolk Ice Cream, Coconut Ash Ice Cream, etc. are highly sought after by "post-90s" consumers.
Wang Junjie analyzed that for the retail industry, the commercial changes brought about by the epidemic are both a challenge and an opportunity. For example, travel and shopping are hindered during the home stay. For some people living alone, especially young office workers, fast food products are easier to make and meet dietary needs. They are popular with consumers, and the sales of Suning's convenient fast food products have increased significantly. Another example is that since the beginning of this year, consumers’ enthusiasm for sharing has risen unprecedentedly. Through anchors bringing goods and social platform netizens planting grass, many Internet celebrity snacks have emerged, and the supply of snail noodles at Suning Supermarket is in short supply. "Under the trend of technology-driven consumption, companies need to continuously optimize service models and accelerate digital construction to adapt to new market needs." Wang Junjie said.
Wan Zhe, a visiting researcher at the Chongyang Institute of Finance of Renmin University of China, said that the increase in snack consumption reflects the huge domestic demand vitality of the Chinese economy. From the perspective of demand, snacks, as traditionally "non-rigid needs", are transforming into "rigid needs". People's demand for refreshing snacks is getting stronger and higher, which reflects the strong consumption power. . From the perspective of the supply side, the vigorous development of the snack food industry is accompanied by the upgrading of the industry itself, and the degree of subdivision of different snack products is getting higher and higher. Special snacks and foods from all over the world can be delivered to thousands of households through more advanced packaging technology and logistics channels. All of these support the continuous growth of the snack consumer market.
Regarding the future development trend of the snack food market, Wan Zhe believes that the industry has considerable room for development. "On the one hand, under the influence of the epidemic, many people have concerns about eating out and spending more time at home; on the other hand, people’s demand for food is increasing, which means that homogeneous snack products are competitive. Inevitable decline, distinctive snacks usher in more room for development. At the same time, under the combined effect of e-commerce assistance, live broadcast delivery, logistics convenience and other factors, snacks are no longer just a simple table food, but are connected to the Internet. Entertainment and social activities are closely linked, and the marketing methods of merchants are also renovated." Wan Zhe said that with the merger and integration of the industry in the future, the snack brand will become more important, and the connotation of the brand will not only be pure product quality, but more Rely on social ecology and cultural elements.
Wang Junling Li Jiabei