The breakfast and wholesome snacks class has emerged as an outlier in the FMCG foods sector. An growing consciousness round wholesome consuming, snacking by the day and development past metros into tier-2 cities are driving the breakfast and wholesome snacks section, even whereas the FMCG foods sector reported detrimental development.
Quoting Nielsen Consumer knowledge, Kellogg’s MD (India & South Asia markets) Prashant Peres mentioned quantity development in breakfast and wholesome snacks — when put collectively and in contrast with different meals classes — has been constant over a span of two years from July-September 2020 to January-March this yr. The section confirmed 1.8% quantity development in the primary three months this yr as in comparison with the yr-in the past interval. In comparability, the typical FMCG foods development was a detrimental 1.8% in the identical interval.
“We see good traction on the penetration opportunity for the brand. Kellogg’s achieved the highest ever penetration in March quarter, with an increase of approximately 1.5x vs the past and exceeding 15% for SEC A/B households in MAT (moving annual total) March 2022 at an all-India level,” mentioned Peres.
Bagrry’s Group director Aditya Bagri, mentioned there was a particular submit-pandemic shift in direction of more healthy consuming. While initially it was extra intent, he added that now it’s changing into precise shopper demand.
“There’s a significant change in the consumers’ choice of what they want to eat. The factors driving this are nutrition and convenience. We get a lot of feedback that our muesli is consumed not just as a cereal with milk but also as a snack during the day, on-the-go and also a mid-night munch. So, the opportunity to consume the product has expanded,” mentioned Bagri.
Different cereals are consumed at completely different occasions by individuals. According to a product take a look at research achieved with 200 homemakers throughout the nation in partnership with IPSOS early this yr, Kellogg’s discovered that its cornflakes are eaten by greater than 80% shoppers throughout morning breakfast time and near 30% as night snacks. “The consumption trend of Kellogg’s Chocos also shows 74% having it in the morning as breakfast. What is good to see is that a significant part of the same is also on snacking occasions with more than 60% of consumers eating this cereal in evening,” mentioned Peres.
A Nestle India spokesperson mentioned the breakfast cereals class is gaining relevance past the metros and tier-1 cities. Nestle is seeing elevated traction in tier-2 cities. The spokesperson added that the adults section (granola and muesli) is seeing the quickest development, whereas there may be additionally an growing trend of delivering purposeful diet (protein, probiotics) and native grains (millets) by breakfast cereals, catering to the well being-aware millennials.
Other than that, the expansion of the e-commerce channel has additionally acted as an enabler with extra selection out there to the shoppers.
Bagri mentioned, “The consumption of breakfast cereals is also moving from urban to semi-urban and, to some extent, rural as well. That is definitely going to spur growth. But there’s a caveat. Unlike categories like staples that have grown with consumers converting from loose to packaged products, breakfast cereals is a 100% organised category and it does not get the tailwind advantage that other categories have — of consumers shifting from loose to packaged.”
