SCOTLAND is home to just under 9% of the population of Great Britain, but it accounts for 10% of take-home sales of snacks such as crisps and nuts.
According to Kantar Worldpanel, total take-home crisps, nuts and snacks sales across GB are now worth £2.2bn. Sales value has grown by 2.85% in the past year.
The market in Scotland is now worth £222m, but showing slower growth than GB – Scottish sales were up 1.9%.
Potato crisps account for 46% of the value of sales of total crisps, snacks and nuts in Scotland. That’s 5% higher than GB and Kantar reckons that’s due in part to the fact that on average Scottish shoppers make three more trips a year to buy crisps and also spend £3.80 more a year on crisps than the GB norm.
Cheese is the most popular flavour across all cheese, snacks and nuts lines, accounting for 7% of all products sold. Scottish shoppers take home more cheese and onion, ready salted or salt and vinegar flavoured snacks than the GB average.
In Scotland, there are quite significant demographic influences on snacks spending.
If you trade in an area with lots of families with children you should make sure you have a good range of crisps, because households with kids and dependents take a significantly greater share of crisps sales than they do of nuts sales.
On the other hand households without children take a greater share of nuts sales than they do of crisps.
‘Empty nesters’, those whose kids have grown up and left home are especially important to the category, they account for 25.2% of take-home crisps sales and 28.4% of nuts sales.
• Amanda Heritage, category development manager for convenience at merchandising specialist eXPD8, reckons the big-night-in is behind many snacks purchases.
“There are key categories that people buy for their Saturday night in front of the TV, snacks such as crisps,” she said.
“It’s key not only that POS and promotions are clear, but also availability is high – we know that availability is one of the top three reasons that customers will or will not return to a store.”
1.9% – Growth of snack sales in Scotland in last year
7% – Share of CSN sales taken by cheese flavour
£222m – Value of snacks across Scotland
