Spotlight on salty snacks
According to global market research firm Mintel, salty snacks have a household penetration rate of 97.1 percent in the United States, making them, collectively, one of the most popular categories among households. This high rate of popularity, coupled with the relatively affordable price point of most salty snacks, makes the category critically important to manufacturers and retailers alike, as they represent a fairly reliable revenue stream, Mintel adds.
We visited three supermarkets to see what they are doing to make their store brand salty snacks (including popcorn) stand out: a Dominicks store (operated by Safeway Inc., Pleasanton, Calif.) in Mundelein, Ill.; a Butera Market store (operated by Butera Finer Foods, Elgin, Ill.) in Lindenhurst, Ill.; and a Heinens Fine Foods store (operated by Heinens Fine Foods, Cleveland, Ohio) in Barrington, Ill. Our visits took place at the beginning of August.
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Dominicks
General observations: The salty snacks section in the Dominicks store is situated toward the left-hand side of the store (looking into the store from the front entrance). Of the three stores we visited, it was the least busy, but it also has the largest amount of aisle space devoted to salty snacks. The left side of the aisle houses popcorn, meat snacks, nuts and seeds; after a break for a parallel center aisle, the aisle continues with candy. The right side of the aisle is home to a variety of chips, pretzels and other salty snacks. Store brand items are offered under The Snack Artist and O Organics brands.
The section was fairly neat and well-stocked. Foot traffic was light during our early Thursday morning visit.
The upside:
- The Snack Artist store brand is given premium eye-level shelf space in all categories: chips, pretzels and nuts. Shelf extenders that prominently feature store brand nuts and salsas/dips are strategically placed between rows of chips.
- We counted 19 SKUs of store brand nuts, dried fruit and seeds, which take up roughly half the shelf space in that section.
- In the popcorn section, the store brand items were shadowing a national brand promotion, using prominent on-shelf signage to point out the sale.
- In the chip section, most store brand products are interspersed among the national brands. In addition, an entire block at the front of the aisle is dedicated entirely to various varieties of The Snack Artist chips.
The downside:
- We counted five end-cap and middle aisle end-cap displays, all of which featured only national brand products.
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Butera Market
General observations: The salty snacks section in the Butera Market store we visited is broken up into part of two aisles that are situated on the right-hand side of the store (looking into the store from the front entrance). One side of the aisle furthest to the right houses the chips and pretzels, beginning at the front of the store and moving about halfway down the aisle. In the next aisle over, to the left, are the popcorn and nuts, which take up about one-fifth of one side of the aisle, beginning at the front of the store.
Instead of being interspersed throughout the aisle, the Food Club brand of salty snacks mostly is merchandised in a block format both in the chip/pretzel aisle and in the popcorn/nut aisle.
The two sections were fairly neat and well-organized. Traffic was moderate during our morning visit.
The upside:
- The six SKUs of Food Club popcorn are neatly and attractively displayed in block format between two national brands, with 12 facings. The popcorn also featured tags drawing attention to the \"new low price.\"
- The 17 SKUs of nuts and seeds also are neatly displayed, with some interspersed with national brand products and sporting tags that draw attention to the \"new low price\" of the store brand.
The downside:
- Immediately to the left of the front entrance to the store, we noticed a very large display of multiple cardboard shippers featuring only national brand salty snack products.
- In the chip and pretzel section, we found Food Club chips, cheese puffs/balls, tortilla chips and pretzels priced lower than the national brands, but with no prominent signage to draw attention to this fact.
- There were five shelf-extender displays for dips and salsas and two end caps featuring chips, but none contained store brands.
- Several of the pretzel SKUs were out of stock or running low.
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Heinens Fine Foods
General observations: At the Heinens Fine Foods store we visited, salty snacks are merchandised slightly to the left of the center of the store (looking into the store from the front entrance). The nut section takes up one half of the right-hand side of an aisle (toward the front of the store), while part of the left-hand side of that same aisle features popcorn, just past the candy section, toward the front of the store.
We found no Heinens brand pretzels or chips, but a number of store brand organic salsas are clearly merchandised within the section, leading us to conclude that store brand salty snacks are limited to a few carefully selected categories. Most of the store brand products are very unique in terms of flavors, also indicating no desire for a \"me too\" approach or competition with national brands.
The store was very neat and well-stocked. Foot traffic was moderate during our mid-morning visit.
The upside:
- The Heinens store offers the most varieties of store brand nuts/seeds out of the three stores we visited, with a total of 21 different SKUs.
- The store brand nuts are merchandised in a very large block, making the Heinens brand stand out on the shelf. During our visit, the store also was merchandising its store brand nuts on the side of an end cap.
- At premium eye-level shelf space, the store merchandises five SKUs of its own-brand organic salsa between national brands of popcorn, chips and pretzels. Additionally, it is the only organic salsa placed within this aisle.
- The Heinens store offers large plastic canisters of Heinens gourmet popcorn in flavors such as cashew almond, cranberry pecan and caramel macadamia. It is the only brand in the aisle offering gourmet popcorn flavors.
The downside:
- Even though it prices its own-brand nut and seed products attractively, the store does not place signage or do anything else to communicate the products value.
Dominate shelf space
When it comes to private label salty snacks, one of the biggest missteps that retailers make is allowing the national brand to dominate the shelves while treating the store brand as an afterthought, says Jeff Roberts, marketing manager, Snak King, City of Industry, Calif. He recommends that retailers dedicate a large prime merchandising space for their store brand salty snacks instead, and cut back on the area dedicated to the national brands.
Frank Strawn, sales and production manager, Aunt Ems Gourmet Popcorn Inc., Deer Creek, Ill., agrees that retailers need to stop allowing national brands so much freedom within their stores. The retailer should be maintaining the aisle instead of viewing it as rental property and avoiding it, he adds.
Retailers also should consider where in the store, not just where in the aisle, salty snacks will find the best traffic flow, says Lisa Justus, vice president of private label sales, Barrel O Fun Snacks, Perham, Minn. And employees who are not restocking shelves within an adequate amount of time also could be doing a large disservice to retailers, she adds.
To maximize customer attraction, Brian Newland, senior vice president of sales, Shearers, Brewster, Ohio, recommends shelf-talkers, in-aisle displays, weekenders and end caps, as well as bright, colorful packaging to grab the consumers attention.
Even with great merchandising, however, consumers still might need to be persuaded to try a retailers salty snacks. For that reason, Eric Their, president, Oogies Snacks LLC, Denver, recommends educating cashiers and other in-store employees so they are able to talk up the store brands.