Their share of global tracked snack launch activity recorded by Innova Market Insights has more than doubled from less than 8% to nearly 18%, during the past 5 years. This makes it the number three snacks sub-category overall after savoury/salty snacks and snack nuts/seeds.
“The market is now very diverse,” notes Lu Ann Williams, Director of Innovation at Innova Market Insights. “But it can generally cover a number of categories, led by dried snacking fruit, fruit bars and processed fruit snacks. There is ongoing activity in emphasising the snack positioning of fruit products, with more user friendly packaging such as resealable stand-up pouches and small pots and trays, making them more suitable for anytime snacking. There has also been growth in the availability of multi-packs of individual snacks.”
As the market has developed, it has seen the rising popularity of fruit and nut mixes, often featuring more unusual and exotic varieties of both.
So-called superfruits are strongly in evidence, varying from the relatively established, such as cranberries, to the less well-known, such as goji and açai. Value is also being added with the use of other ingredients and flavourings, including indulgent favourites such as chocolate, healthy additions such as yoghurt and on trend options, such as coconut.
The intrinsically healthy image of fruit has also helped to drive the market forward. Nearly half of launches tracked in the 12 months to the end of September 2016 were positioned on a health platform of some kind, rising to more than 85% in North America.
Recent interest in clean labelling and free from products has generally been relatively easy to target in a subcategory with an existing natural image. More than a quarter of launches used a natural and/or no additives or preservatives positioning, rising to over 36%, if organic claims are also included.
Interest in GMO-free claims has also risen sharply in recent years and they are now used on about 8% of global launches, up from 3.5% 5 years ago. North America has been leading this trend, with a massive 38% of launches claiming to be non-GMO, up from just 12% 5 years previously. This illustrates the response to rising levels of consumer concern around this issue.
Other health claims of ongoing interest include fibre content, used for more than 11% of global launches in the 12 months to the end of September 2016, and sugar content (no added sugar, low sugar and sugar free) with more than 10%.
