>>take-home crisps, nuts and snacks a hit

With an annual value of £1.3bn, the take-home crisps, snacks and nuts market represents a leading category for UK shoppers. Ninety-seven percent of UK households buy into this category over 52 weeks, and do so on average 30 times over the same period of time.
Multipack format, which represents the majority of purchases across the take-home crisps and snacks category, is experiencing difficult trading conditions, which translates into a negative trend for snacks (down 4% in value) and crisps (down 0.4%).
Larger single bags for sharing, the other format across the category, is proving more resilient, thanks to the brand launches that have taken place over the past couple of years, such as Walkers Sensations Crackers, Sensations Poppadoms, Pringles Dippers and Dips, as well as the Special Edition Flavours initiatives. Own-label products are also doing well.
Nuts, the smallest segment of the crisps, nuts and snacks category, continues to show double-digit growth, thanks to good Christmas performances.
Penetration and spend per buyer are both up, which means more consumers have been buying more nuts for the past two seasons.
If Walkers Sensations Nut Clusters was a strong performer for Christmas 2003/2004, own label is behind the good category performance for Christmas 2004/2005.
Walkers crisps remains firmly the number one brand across this category, well ahead of the number two brand, Pringles. The Sensations umbrella brand has established itself as the number three brand across the category, putting PepsiCo in the driving seat in the category.
Tesco clearly dominates the overall category, capturing nearly a quarter of the annual spend on take-home crisps, nuts and snacks. Asda and Sainsbury follow, with the combined Morrisons and Safeway group just behind.
The good performance of the discounters (Aldi, Lidl, Netto) should also be noted.
Thomas Spony, TNS Superpanel
Produced for The Grocer by TNS Superpanel. For more information call 020 8967 4521