company adds.
Consumers also want short “clean” labels with ingredients they can pronounce and could find in their pantry at home, Langlois says. Retailers could take advantage of this consumer demand by creating and/or marketing specific cookies as more healthful alternatives to other more indulgent treats, Mintel adds.
Consumption of healthful crackers has also increased, Packaged Facts states in its cracker report, with the number of households “most often consuming wheat crackers” increasing 19 percent between the years 2004 and 2013; oat cracker consumption increased 39 percent during this same time period. Research from the Netherlands-based Innova Market Insights found that 80 percent of new cracker launches in the United States now are based on a health platform.
One reason for this growth could be that crackers have repositioned themselves to be an “exciting and healthy alternative” to traditional salty snacks such as chips, popcorn and pretzels, Packaged Facts says.
“Consumers are reading the ingredient decks and are not purchasing products that are less than ‘all-natural’ or that contain HFCs or hydrogenated oils,” says Bob Abramowitz, president and CEO of Westminster Cracker Co., Rutland, Vt.
He adds that retailers should be aware of current health trends in crackers that will only increase in popularity, including non-GMO and/or gluten-free ingredients, whole grains, no preservatives and lower sodium counts.
Be convenient
As busy consumers, especially millennials, increasingly leave behind the time-consuming “three square meals per day” mentality in favor of snacking, mini-meals and on-the-go eating, convenient packaging will become even more important, states Esther Palevsky, analyst for the Freedonia Group Inc., Cleveland.
Laurent-Xavier Gilbert, vice president of innovation and marketing for Leclerc Foods, agrees. Portability — or “cookies-to-go,” especially portable breakfast cookies such as Kraft’s BelVita or Kellogg’s To-Go biscuits — is a new trend retailers should be aware of, he says.
“These breakfast cookies are a direct answer to our really hectic lifestyles where people often don’t make the time to eat a full breakfast,” he adds. “In Europe, this is a very big category, and while it is relatively new to the U.S., all of the major players have a version of it out there right now.”
Additionally, consumers view convenient packaging, something that is easy to use and resealable, as a big plus.
“National brands typically have not taken advantage of packaging options that are both easy to open and easy to close so as to maintain freshness. This could be a big opportunity for innovation among private labels,” Langlois says.
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