Convenience stores remain a destination for salty and sweet snacks, both of which had a positive year in unit growth for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 1, 2023, according to Chicago-based market research firm IRI. Growth in the snack category is returning to normal after significant double-digit increases last year.
In the salty snack segment, tortilla chips had the most unit sales growth in 2022, up 6.1%, after having the third highest unit sale growth, 8.7%, in 2021. Popcorn/caramel corn and cheese snacks also grew in units in 2022, up 4.9% and 4.4%, respectively.
Sweet snacks only saw one of the same top three segments as the year prior: cookies. In 2022, doughnuts and pastries were in the top three, while in 2021, it was bakery snacks and cakes.
Trends in snacks keep retailers on the lookout for the next big thing, says Brad Connell, senior category manager of center store for Chicago-based bp America, which owns 1,224 Thorntons and ampm c-stores.
“It’s not static,” says Connell. “It’s always changing. There’s always innovation. There’s always excitement driven by the brands that I work with day in and day out.”
New items are key, says Charlie Iszard, center store manager for CrossAmerica Partners LP, an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based company with 252 stores.
“Innovation is key in communicating [new products to customers], but it has been that way all along,” he says.
Preferred bag size is also changing with inflation, and retailers are keeping an eye on how different snack sizes perform.
“We’re monitoring the package sizes throughout the category in ’23 to see what ’24 will bring, and then we’ll adapt as the guests adapt,” Connell says. Consumers can purchase fewer items for $20 than they could a year ago, he says.
Larger sized meat snack packs are interesting to watch as retail prices go up. Connell is unsure if customers will rely on the smaller pack sizes, such as sticks, but manufacturers tell him that growth is expected to be in the double digits in 2023.
Retailers are confident in the strategy of incentivizing snacks as add-ons because the indulgence factor can lead to impulse-buys for customers who come into the store for something else, Iszard says.
“We are the destination for cigarettes and beverages, and we’re working on coffee and food,” says Iszard. “The candy and the snacks are all add-ons.”
Iszard’s goal is to understand what the customer responds to.
“We’ve done a lot of experimenting with different promotions on how to get [customers] enticed to buy the extra one,” he says. “We’ve tried two for $4; two for $4.50; buy two, get one free; buy two, get one for $1.50.”
Iszard has a weekly call with the territory managers who tell him the results of the promotions, which helps him know what to do next.
“Right now, we’re experimenting with buy one, get the second one for $1.50 because [customers] don’t have a lot of cash, but if you hit the right trigger, they’ll buy the second item—and it’s working.”
Connell also wants customers to reach for center store products when they come in for beverages and foodservice items and is striving to reach that goal in 2023 with bundle offers.
“As our guests come in for … our great breakfast offering in the morning or an afternoon snack, we want to do a bundle offer of a drink with chips or a drink and a candy bar,” he says.
Another way that customers are likely to add snacks to their baskets is through suggestive selling, or when cashiers persuade people checking out to buy an additional item, says Iszard. That means hiring the right people who are willing to go the extra mile to make more sales.
“I’m not convinced the people really want the second item, but if the person asks politely, is friendly and makes that customer’s day, they’ll buy it from them,” he says. “We’re trying to get that image and friendliness out to all the customers because if you win with people, there’s no question.”
This year, retailers also adapted their snack merchandising strategies.
“One focus for the ampm brand is trying to lower the sight line to ensure the overall guest experience and shopability, as well as the organizational ease on the operator,” says Connell.
For The Spinx Co., space has been taken away from center store, says Leslie Crews, center store category manager for the 84-store chain based in Greenville, South Carolina.
“We’ve had to do some adjusting in center store because we’ve implemented self-checkout, which is causing some moves within center store to make space,” she says.