KANSAS CITY, MO — Best sellers in the cracker category are often flavors that have stood the test of time. Sea salt continues to do well with a 26% dollar sales increase and 8.4% unit growth. Honey, another top seller, has experienced a 16% gain in dollar sales and 1% unit growth.
Flavor combinations are also doing well. Olive oil and sea salt saw growth along with rosemary and sea salt. Another emerging element is the callout of the kind of sea salt. For instance, Mediterranean sea salt is driving double-digit sales. Another growing attribute is baked claims with “oven-baked” as a twist on the familiar callout. While popular, oven-baked remains a smaller claim attribute compared to baked.
In this unprecedented time, product options are often more limited, particularly if what consumers want is out of stock or the price point has grown too high. The economic crunch is in part responsible for driving a preference for particular sizes. Multipacks, which were wildly popular during the height of the pandemic, are still doing well.
But what’s driving sales now is the family size, which has seen growth across dollars and units. Packages with bite-sized crackers are also experiencing significant growth alongside party sizes, which are growing in dollars and units.
“Dollar sales will continue, but when looking across the category, growth will be tough from a unit and volume perspective,” said Sally Lyons Wyatt, executive and practice leader, client insights for IRI. “Everyone will need to look at channels and see what’s winning and determine what types, sizes and flavors are appealing to consumers.”
Limited-time offers (LTOs), if executed well, offer another way to spur growth within specific channels. Co-partnering products generally do well because they drive interest and novelty, Lyons Wyatt suggested. A popular LTO, then, begs the question if the SKU should remain an LTO or if it would benefit from being added to the regular product lineup.
Past successes between Campbell Soup Co., parent company of Norwalk, CT-based Pepperidge Farm, and McCormick & Co. include Old Bay Seasoned Goldfish crackers LTO. The combination of Goldfish and Old Bay’s blend of 18 herbs and spices demonstrated that Goldfish can be enjoyed by all ages. The companies also partnered on the well-received Frank’s Red Hot Goldfish LTO in 2019, creating the first spicy Goldfish cracker.
With a category poised to surprise and delight, the question remains if consumers will have the money to spend on these items or if those funds must go to more pressing purchases. Lyons Wyatt recommended retailers emphasize the number of uses for crackers throughout the day with sampling opportunities to induce purchasing.
It could be worthwhile for brands to leverage prior recession lessons: Attract with multifunctional products, use premium positioning and promote small indulgences.
“It’s a channel game,” Lyons Wyatt concluded. “Therefore, it’s important to be where consumers are when they are shopping and to use personalized shopping and tactics to capture consumer attention.”
This story has been adapted from the October | Q4 2022 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.
