Consumer Trends: Americans Satisfy Cravings with Salty Snacks

Nationwide, 50 million consumers who often snack between meals agree that β€œsalted snacks are my favorite snack,” and 90 percent of households report eating salty snacks in the past 30 days, according to the report, "Salty Snacks in the U.S."

ROCKVILLE, Md. (PRWEB) β€” American consumers are snacking more than ever thanks to less frequent restaurant dining, frenzied lifestyles that encourage on-the-go eating, and a growing tendency to replace meals with smaller, more frequent snacks. Nationwide, 50 million consumers who often snack between meals agree that β€œsalted snacks are my favorite snack,” and 90% of households report eating salty snacks in the past 30 days, according to β€œSalty Snacks in the U.S.,” a recently released report by market research publisher Packaged Facts.

Underpinning the success of snack foods are the strides marketers have made in developing healthier salty snack foods that still taste good. As a result, there is a cadre of 14 million β€œhealthy” salty snackers who exercise often, seek out healthy-ingredient foods of all kinds, and do not see a conflict between craving salty snacks and pursing a healthy snacking diet.

According to Packaged Facts research director David Sprinkle, part of salty snacks’ metamorphosis into β€œbetter-for-you” products has been a change in product labeling that mirrors that for other better-for-you positioned foods such as fruit- and nut-based snacks. Salty snacks now often call out attributes such as β€œnon-GMO,” β€œvegan,” or β€œorganic.” They also often are labeled more subjectively as being β€œlocal,” β€œpure,” β€œreal,” β€œnatural,” β€œsafe,” β€œclean,” β€œminimally processed” and β€œallergy-friendly.”

Packaged Facts projects that a number of factors will converge to generate faster growth for the salty snacks market during the upcoming 2014-2018 period. Marketers will continue to add more healthy-ingredient products to the salty snack segment to meet demand, including offerings from niche entrepreneurial companies that focus on bringing innovative health-ingredient salty snacks to consumers.

For more information on β€œSalty Snacks in the U.S.,” please visit http://www.MarketResearch.com or http://www.packagedfacts.com/Salty-Snacks-7891586/.

About Packaged Facts – Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com, publishes market intelligence on a wide range of consumer market topics, including consumer demographics and shopper insights, consumer financial products and services, consumer goods and retailing, consumer packaged goods, and pet products and services. Packaged Facts also offers a full range of custom research services. To learn more, visit: http://www.packagedfacts.com. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+.

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