Suppliers ‘buck’ up store shelves with value-priced snack options

Continued consumer price consciousness and the growing influence of the dollar store channel have made snacks priced at $1 popular with consumers.

Supermarkets are featuring such products as Easy Mac single serves, Koyo tofu miso and Brother’s International fruit crisps in dump bins near checkouts. Walgreens is running in-and-out promotions on snacks priced at $1 in its “Wow” ads, and CVS has devoted a 6-ft. section in the food aisle to a 10-for$10 mix-and-match set that includes single-serve cereal bowls from General Mills, small-size baking mixes from Duncan Hines, soup meals from Nissan, cookies from Traditional Foods Baking Batch brand and Emerald nuts in bags and resealable canisters. The chain also has promoted Frito-Lay snack canisters for $1 on endcaps.

“One dollar is a magic price point,” said Jon Hauptman, a partner at Willard Bishop consulting. “Retailers use the tactic to enhance their price image throughout the store. In this economy, shoppers are looking for inexpensive but indulgent treats. These items have great appeal to shoppers.”

Hauptman said the popularity of $1-priced items has led manufacturers to create innovative packaging and package sizes that allow them to bring more of the popular-priced items to market. Emerald, for example, packages honey-roasted nuts in resealable 4.5-oz. canisters for the CVS promotion. “We’re seeing cereal in boxes that are larger than a single-serve, but not as large as the typical box, priced at a dollar,” he said.

Bill Erwin, CEO of Flava Puffs, said his company has been so successful with value-priced programs in the drug channel that the company is introducing several new value-priced items in first quarter 2011. Flava Puffs soon will be available in onion ring, nacho, party mix, cheese party mix and kettle corn.

Brothers International is another company that’s tailoring its offerings to meet value price points. “It’s our intention to work with retailers to keep our product at an everyday $1 retail,” said Robert Larsen, director of sales. “Our 10-for-$10 program with Stop & Shop has been extremely successful, and we’ve built on that with a back-to-school-themed promotion and are planning a holiday-stocking-stuffer pro -motion with our Mickey Mouse licensed snacks.”

Top-growth snack categories

Value-priced snack options certainly have appeal for both retailers and consumers in the snack aisle. Sally Lyons Wyatt, SVP at SymphonyIRI Group, told attendees at a recent Snaxpo meeting that 80% of consumers are looking for the best value when they buy snacks.