However, there still remains an opportunity for snack brands to bolster sales with products positioned to the ‘at-home’ occasion, as snacking habits in the ‘new normal’ continue to show minimal changes compared to lockdown conditions.

Amid the reporting of packaged-food companies’ second-quarter financial results, PepsiCo posted a 6% rise in snack sales in the US. In PepsiCo’s case, snack sales in the US have seen a 6% increase in organic growth compared to 2019 Q2 sales. 

According to the brand’s Q2 financial announcement, this boost in sales was due to at-home snacking habits. Despite sales increases, key snack brands show concern on how long this spike in sales can last. For example, Kellogg’s announced that it predicts snack sales will normalize by Q4, as home consumption decelerates in developed markets.

However, in the ‘new normal’, snacking behaviour at-home remains unchanged for the foreseeable future, despite governments easing lockdown restrictions. 

It is therefore vital for snack brands to continue to focus on snacks positioned to the “at-home” occasion (e.g. larger packaging and multipacks, as suggested by PepsiCo) and diversify e-commerce services (e.g. Frito Lay’s the direct-to-consumer website Snacks.com) during ‘new normal’ conditions to align with consumer demand. 

Looking forward, at-home snacking shows to be overall a long-term trend as consumers continue to resist falling back into previous on-the-go snacking habits.

For more insight and data, visit the GlobalData Consumer Intelligence Centre