Specialist
Former Product Sales Manager, Larabar, Fiber One & Kid Sweet Treats at General Mills Inc
Agenda
- Consumer preferences toward indulgence
- Competitive overview of the sweet and savoury snack sector
- Category opportunities and potential growth – ingredient switching and clean labeling
- Pricing trends, channel dynamics and Q4 2021 sector outlook
Questions
1.
Could you give an overview of sweet snacking and the categories that are really driving growth across sweet, savoury and baked?
2.
Was the cookie that you launched with the icing a new product or a relaunch? How do you think new product launches were impacted throughout coronavirus?
3.
How do you decide when to bring products back? Why do you decide to take products off the market in the first place? If there’s a whole meme account dedicated to this snack, demand was probably there when it was taken off. Can you discuss some of those dynamics from a manufacturer side and how you choose to reset your own category offerings?
4.
Why do you think there is so much crossover between some of these brands trying to service a wider array of categories, and why hasn’t this trend come sooner? Would it make sense to start early and expand into everything that’s growing, since all of it is?
5.
You mentioned this trend towards health and wellness and how the category didn’t fare as well because everyone was looking for indulgence. How did that play into how the CPG companies are thinking about their more healthy or better-for-you footprint?
6.
Are there any subcategories in the health and wellness or better ingredient front vs others, where consumers will stay indulgent vs where consumers are much more likely to buy a sugar-free alternative? Are there any trends within that front regarding health and wellness?
7.
How much are retailers seeking these better-for-you offerings? A new trend is setting out whole aisles just for healthy products or better-for-you products. Could CPGs consider this a new opportunity for shelf space, where all of these incumbent brands seem to be making a lot of gains? Could you discuss how retailers are repositioning the store for better-for-you products?
8.
How may e-commerce be playing into some of these dynamics regarding SKU rationalisation? For traditional growing indulgent categories, how has that impacted sweet and savoury snacks?
9.
There has been a trend where Coca-Cola would launch an energy drink or a hard seltzer internationally, and then bring it to the US. Are there any opportunities or trends from CPG companies launching new products outside of the US to gauge interest and bringing it back into the US? How does that work, or is that prevalent in this category of snacks?
10.
Could you discuss the trends in snacking from the convenience side, and how that’s impacted the crowdedness in retail? What’s that’s done for pricing and an ability to increase prices?
11.
What trends would you note in convenience? Could you comment on anything of a rebound or volumes?
12.
What are the ad spend and marketing costs for some of these products? How are General Mills and companies of such trying to connect with the consumer and get their product name or brand out there?
13.
Alongside that reinvesting in the brand, how aggressive do you think some of these CPGs are getting on acquiring other smaller insurgent brands that were growing 3-5x?
14.
What consumer trends have you noticed in the continued demand for legacy products or the brands they grew up with? Are consumers starting to get tired and switch around or seek out other things? Is there any data you have good measurable insights into?
15.
What are you noticing on the competitive front regarding those brands playing nicely with each other instead of a price war? Who’s getting aggressive for more share? How is share being captured, or would you say overall, the category is growing so much that everyone is benefiting from it?
16.
What have you noticed in snacking as a whole and retailers’ ability to really build out a private label presence? Why has private label really struggled, or are some retailers doing better than others in snacking and making those private label offerings?
17.
Are there any other subcategories you think are easier for private label to really build a presence, such as sugar-free popcorn? What are the other opportunities across categories?
18.
What’s really causing supply disruptions, and who’s really faring the best in getting that product to market? Did some of these supply crunches provide an opportunity for small players to make up some of that lost supply?
19.
Which key players in this sweet and savoury snacking are you monitoring for strategic decisions that have perhaps sparked your interest, whether it’s management changes, organisational restructures or branding? Who are you tracking that’s doing something unique, that you think could lead the way for others to follow?
20.
Are there any channels that you think CPG companies do best in promoting some of those new product launches in, regarding digital ad spend or a big push to gaming? Many people have been using TikTok and influencers. Where are you gaining the most money for your ad dollars?
21.
What’s your outlook for Q4 2021 and into 2022 in the sweet and savoury snacking category’s pricing and growth? What are you tracking or do you think there will be some type of normalisation soon?
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