The recovery of consumption outside the home raises spending on snacks and non-alcoholic beverages by 10% in the first quarter

MADRID, 19 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The recovery of consumption outside the home drove a 10% increase in spending on snacks and non-alcoholic beverages in the first quarter of the year in Spain, according to barometer data presented by Kantar after analyzing the state of the sector in eight countries (Spain, UK, France, Portugal, mainland China, Thailand, Brazil and Mexico).

Specifically, for the snacks and non-alcoholic beverages sector, the first quarter of the year was the fourth in a row to present a positive trend (27% compared to the same period in 2021), doing so at a much higher rate than consumption within the home.

This recovery was partly thanks to the good performance obtained by the sector in Brazil and in Europe, where the figures achieved by the United Kingdom, France and Spain stand out.

In Spain, spending outside the home on snacks and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 32% in this period compared to the same period of the previous year, while consumption within the home was 2%. Together, this contributed to a combined increase of 10% in these categories for inside and outside the home.

"These results show the good rate of recovery achieved by OOH in general and the snacks and non-alcoholic beverages sector in particular since the beginning of the year, both in Spain and outside our borders. Although the figures recorded between January and March 2020 -just before confinement- we are very close, which indicates the good health of these categories", assured the expert in Horeca and Foodservice at Kantar, Worldpanel division, Cristina García.

Thus, while the value of this segment in Spain obtained 42% in the first quarter of 2020, this figure was 35% this year.

Regarding the effect that the general rise in prices could have had on the evolution of the sector at the beginning of the year, Kantar confirms that this increase did not have much repercussion on consumption outside the home. "Despite the fact that thrips increased by an average of 22% in Spain and prices per unit by 10%, the growth continued to be very remarkable, a circumstance that was also replicated in the rest of the countries studied. However, the highest Inflation peak occurred in the second quarter, so we at Kantar will closely follow developments," Garcia said.

According to the data managed by Kantar, cafeterias, bars and restaurants led the recovery of the sector globally, and quick service restaurants (QSR) and the impulse channel benefited from the new scenario experienced by consumption outside the home as consequence of the pandemic.

Comparing drinks and snacks, consumption outside the home recovered faster in the non-alcoholic beverage segment, where it presented a global increase of 34%, complementing the good performance obtained within the home, where the segment reached a growth of 2%.

However, snack categories were more resilient than beverages, experiencing less of a decline in OOH value and managing to grow at home.

As far as consumption preferences are concerned, these vary from one country to another. In Spain, there is a greater preference for cookies, which account for 37% of OOH spending, compared to salty snacks or ice cream, which account for 27% and 24% of spending, respectively.

Regarding the value outside the home of salty snacks in particular, which reached 17% in the first quarter of 2022 in Spain, it has not yet fully recovered from the pre-pandemic, whose figure was 23%, which had an impact on higher consumption of the category within households.

In this way, the total recovery of the value of salty snacks depended on the modern channel (hypermarkets, supermarkets and 'discount') and convenience stores.

Likewise, at a general level, the recovery of OOH will be strongly linked to impulse consumption, a habit that has been maintained after the pandemic, with the emotion factor acquiring greater importance, through the incorporation of novel and spicy flavors in the products.