NEW YORK -- PepsiCo is dominating the salty-snack category. The company’s Frito-Lay division controls about 60% of today’s U.S. salty-snack retail sales, according to research firm Packaged Facts, Rockville, Md. Earlier in July, PepsiCo credited its second-quarter financial climb largely to the sales of Cheetos and other salty snacks, which balanced the mediocre performance of its soft-drink sector.
And consumers are satisfied with Frito-Lay brands, too. Year-over-year analysis since 2013 shows that consumers increasingly enjoy brands such as Tostitos, Cheetos, Doritos and Lay’s, according to data analytics firm YouGov’s recent BrandIndex survey. Overall, YouGov found that more than half (52%) of Americans eat salty snacks at least once a week, while only 3% said they never do.
In the survey, YouGov asked consumers to rate these brands on satisfaction, providing scores between negative 100 and 100. Tostitos’ satisfaction score rose four points, from 34 to 38, between 2013 and 2018. Cheetos’ score increased three points—from 38 to 41—and Doritos grew from 42 to 48 over the past five years. Lay’s is the only brand that experienced a plateau in satisfaction: it’s score has sat at either 47 or 48 since 2014. Nonetheless, Lay’s current score is still two points higher than it was in 2013.
Consumers’ overall increase in satisfaction with these brands correlates with an increased willingness to buy them, said YouGov. The research firm also asked consumers to rate their openness to purchasing these brands—a purchase consideration score—which they scaled between zero and 100. The percentage of consumers who said they’d consider purchasing a bag of Tostitos has increased two percentage points—from 27% to 29%— since 2013. Cheetos has outpaced Tostitos, jumping from 30% to 35%. And Doritos sored the most, increasing from 35% to 41% since 2013. Lay’s purchase consideration jumped from 39% to 41% in 2014, but has sat at the latter ever since, besides a brief jump to 42% in 2016.
New York-based YouGov BrandIndex interviews more than 2.5 million consumers worldwide per year to track brands’ public perceptions.
Purchase, N.Y.-based food and beverage leader PepsiCo has a portfolio of more than 22 brands that generates more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Besides Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay North America, its main businesses are Pepsi, Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade.
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