Regional characteristics have become a new growth point in the leisure snack market

Yunnan macadamia nuts, yellow hua winter dates, Zhao'an plums, Changbai mountain red pine nuts.
.
.
How hot is the casual snack track that is eaten? New and old leisure snack companies in the market are racing, leading companies are still maintaining their size, and new enterprises such as snack collection stores and regional specialty foods are also constantly pouring in
.
Industry insiders said that leisure snacks have regional characteristics, consumers in different regions tend to different categories of leisure snacks, local enterprises produce local specialties more directly and effectively, and the specialty leisure snack market ushered in new opportunities
for development.

Local snacks break the circle

At present, the local flavor is gradually breaking the circle
.
Relevant data shows that Tmall local snacks, flavors and other search data increased by 80%
year-on-year.
Local brand fast food is also growing
rapidly.
At the same time, regional specialty snacks are favored by the new generation of consumers
.

First-tier cities have a high sensitivity to international and popular leisure snacks, and have a strong willingness to follow up, while other regions are relatively more dependent and dedicated to regional traditional snacks
.

Inner Mongolia is located in the north of China, is the largest grassland pastoral area in China, rich in cattle and sheep, traditional snacks are based on local resources evolved, such as beef jerky, milk jerky cheese and so on
.

Xinjiang is located in the northwest border of China, with sufficient sunlight, suitable for the planting and growth of melon and fruit plants, based on the unique local conditions, the traditional leisure snacks are raisins and other preserved
fruits.

Fujian is located on the southeast coast of China, the geographical location is surrounded by mountains and seas, and the rich resources of seafood make the local people develop unique eating habits of eating rice, fish and clams as side foods, and Fujian's traditional leisure snacks are famous
for surimi products.

Traditional snacks from the local to the whole country are moving out of the scene restrictions of late-night snacks and entering thousands of households
as local snacks.

According to the "2021 China Halogen Products Industry Research Report" released by CBNData, in recent years, the Chinese leisure snack industry represented by halogen products has developed well, and is expected to continue to increase
at an annual growth rate of 13% in the next 5 years.
Many leisure snack brands have begun to lay out local specialty products, and consumption has been continuously upgraded and innovated
.

Duck neck, chicken feet and other categories have successfully gone nationwide, and many representative brands have also "run" out
.
Hubei's Zhou Black Duck was successfully listed; The main business of Guangzhou Restaurant is tilting
from catering to food manufacturing.
Emerging brands such as Wang Xiaohao have won the favor
of capital with tiger skins and phoenix claws.

Leisure snacks in first-tier cities clearly show an international and diversified trend, and local characteristics are not obvious
.
Hubei leisure snacks are mainly
marinated and soy products.
Among them, the spicy marinated lotus, Enshi small potatoes, barbecued crayfish and other Jingchu-style snacks of the good shop have unique flavor.

Cheng Hong, Dean of the Institute of Quality Development Strategy of Wuhan University, said: "The processing of Hubei's high-quality specialty products into snacks not only finds high-quality products for consumers, but also finds a new way for Hubei's characteristic products to realize value, boosting industrial development
.
”

The consumer market picked up and bottomed out

The snack industry has entered the fast lane, showing the characteristics of "fast, wide, multi-changeable", and has become the most promising and dynamic industry
in the future FMCG market.

Relevant data show that the market size of China's snack food industry in 2021 will be about 1.
2 trillion yuan
.
The snack food industry presents the characteristics of "big industry + small company", even if it is the three squirrels of the head enterprise, its market share is only 4.
4%, which shows that the entire industry still has a lot of room
for development.

As the national life becomes richer and richer, people's demand for snacks continues to upgrade, in addition to buying, they also hope to buy well, buy with confidence, buy conveniently, and buy happily
.
The advent of the new consumption era has transformed leisure snacks from extensive operation that supplemented consumers' dietary needs in the early days to all-round needs
that meet consumers' material consumption and spiritual pleasure.
Whether it is an e-commerce platform, or an offline format such as supermarkets and convenience stores, the overall product quantity and revenue proportion of snack food are not high
.

Industry insiders said that for production enterprises, the development prospects of the leisure snack market are considerable, and the overall concentration is low, so there are more opportunities and challenges
.
On the one hand, snack foods are easy to standardize; On the other hand, snack foods have the characteristics of non-perishability and long shelf life, and there is basically no natural loss
of the product.
Based on the above two product characteristics, the snack food supply chain system can rely on the existing mature logistics and have high
efficiency.

According to the comprehensive e-commerce platform sales data, in 2022, the leisure snack industry bottomed out as the consumer market rebounded, and consumers' demand for the types and quality of leisure snacks is also increasing, and the leisure snack industry has shown an upward development trend
.

Product demand is becoming healthier and healthier

With the improvement of mass consumption level, consumers' demand for the types and quality of leisure snacks is also increasing, and the healthy leisure snack industry is showing an upward development trend
.
The proportion of traditional snacks with higher carb content and sugar content decreased significantly, and the consumption of non-fried snacks increased
.

The new generation of young consumers and middle-income groups are willing to give higher premiums for healthy diets, low sugar and low calories, high-quality raw materials, healthy processing technology, healthy functionality and other requirements, which have become mainstream demand to promote the development of the snack industry towards health
.
For example, Yanjin Shop launched coarse grain spicy strips with healthy coarse grains as the selling point; Three squirrels use plant-based shiitake meat product "mushroom meat"
.

The growth rate of healthy snacks is significant, and the eating scene covers the main meal
.
Based on the sales data of Tmall, JD.
com, Douyin and other e-commerce platforms, the leisure snack industry will "bottom out" in 2022 as the consumer market recovers, and online sales have steadily increased since mid-February, and snacks with "healthy" as the keyword have grown significantly
compared with the same period last year.

The so-called healthy snack is based on following the law of addition and subtraction of ingredients, and further focuses on the subdivision
of raw materials, process technology and function.
To become a healthy snack, we must first meet the "one plus one subtraction": that is, add in terms of high protein and high fiber, and subtract in sugar, fat and other aspects
.
At the same time, oats, barley, quinoa, etc.
have become popular healthy raw materials, low-temperature baking, freeze-drying technology, non-frying, low-temperature dehydration and other technologies have been updated to increase health, and the addition of vitamins, zinc, selenium, probiotics and other elements has increased functional choices
for snacks.

Industry insiders said that the epidemic has made snack consumers pay more attention to healthy subcategories, and snack brands should strictly control quality and safety, and continue to innovate and improve
.

In the current consumption upgrading and industry competition, cultivating product internal strength, doing a good job in differentiated value embodiment, and meeting the all-round needs of the new generation of consumers are compulsory courses for leisure snack brands, while regional specialty snacks want to face the whole country, need to further insight into consumer psychology, health, diversification is the future development trend, can enhance the emotional connection
with consumers.

(Zhu Meiqiao comprehensive arrangement)

China Food News(November 22, 2022, Version 07)

(Responsible editor: Zhu Meiqiao)