PITTSBURGH -- A web search for articles about snacking and snack trends yields results along two key themes: healthy snacking and millennials shaping the future of snacking. But by taking a large sample of U.S. consumers and their reported snacking behavior, research data show otherwise. CivicScience canvassed more than 2,300 U.S. consumers, 13 years and older, to profile them based on how often they snacked on a given day.
It posed the following question: “Yesterday, how often did you snack or eat food in between main meals?”
- 29% of consumers only snacked once between main meals.
- Another 29% snacked twice.
- 22% snacked three or more times.
- 21% did not snack between meals.
- Snacking two or more times per day happened at a higher rate on a Saturday.
Essentially, 51% of consumers snack more than once on an average day.
The Pittsburgh-based firm grouped the total respondents into three categories in order to develop more in-depth profiles of each segment:
- Single Snackers: Those who snacked only once in a day.
- Multi-Snackers: Those who snacked two or more times in a day.
- Non-Snackers: Those who did not snack.
Here’s where the data does not align with the trending, health-oriented articles that advocate for healthier snacking multiple times per day as a way to increase wellness. More frequent snacking corresponds generally with greater calorie consumption and a less-healthy lifestyle, CivicScience said.
Who is the Multi-Snacker?
- Gender: Skews slightly towards women (55% vs. 45% men).
- Age: Those 18 and under are 26% more likely than average to be multi-snackers. Among adults, those aged 18 to 24 and 35 to 44 are more likely to snack multiple times per day.
- Snack Food Preference: Multi-snackers are somewhat more likely to prefer sweet snacks than do single snackers or non-snackers. In fact, the more often someone snacks, the higher overall their preference for sweet snacks.
- Sedentary Lifestyles: 25% of multi-snackers say that TV is important or a passion, compared to 20% of single snackers and 15% of non-snackers who say this. Multi-snackers are somewhat more likely to watch more hours of TV in an average day.
- Unhealthy Eating: Multi-snackers are 66% more likely than single snackers to say that the reason they don’t eat healthier is “not enough time / too much work.” This is two times the number of non-snackers who also say the same.
- Self-Esteem: Multi-snackers are more likely than single or non-snackers to see themselves as less physically attractive than others their age.
CivicScience did not find that "urbanicity" had any effect overall on snacking frequency, nor did income. Snackers also are not any more likely than the general population to try new products before others.
Based on that rapid snapshot of more frequent snackers, we see in general a consumer who typically is younger in age or early-middle-aged who prefers sweet snacks, watches more TV overall, yet sees healthy eating as being too time consuming.
So if this group overall is not choosing frequent snacking as a way to drive a healthy lifestyle, then who is the consumer that prefers healthy snacks?
We looked at those who say they prefer healthy snacks over salty or sweet snacks, and it turns out, in aggregate, the healthy snack fan is not the picture of a young, virile millennial market maven who is setting new snacking trends.
Who is the Healthy Snacker?
- Age: The healthy snacker skews much older, with 48% of them being over the age of 55 compared to 38% of all U.S. adults who fall into that age group.
- More Educated: 24% of healthy snackers have a college or professional degree compared to 18% of the general population.
- Single Snackers: Healthy snackers are most likely of all snackers to only snack once per day.
- Healthy Eaters: They are 87% more likely to buy organic food regularly.
- Active Lifestyles: This generally older group of consumers is very active, being 50% more likely to exercise fairly often (at least several times per week).
- Brand vs. Price: When shopping for food, they believe brand and price are equally important when making a purchase decision.
The profile of the healthy snacker and the profile of the frequent snacker may present strong marketing challenges for packaged food manufacturers who are focusing on growth in snack offerings.
Those who represent the largest potential market opportunity (the multi-snackers, at 51%) are generally not making purchase decisions based on health but on convenience – so these insights are relevant at a category manager and R&D level.
Meanwhile, healthy snackers consume between meals less frequently and are less likely to experiment with new packaged snack offerings. They do care about brand, which may be useful to existing large brands that can leverage familiarity.
So if not among those two groups, where can packaged snack manufacturers find their “market mavens”--those consumers who are more likely to try new products before others and who talk about products with others and on social media? It turns out that it is in the non-snacking group (which makes up 21% of consumers) where there is an increased likelihood to find general consumer market mavens. It certainly may be possible to convert some of them to snackers, with the right offering.
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