Popcorn and pretzels could still compete in Frito-Lay dominated Walmart: says analyst

07-Sep-2017 - Last updated on 08-Sep-2017 at 15:25 GMT

Quri suggests smaller snack brands should consider looking at their share of display compared with their share of sales. Pic: Quri

Quri’s latest data shows that Lay’s, Ruffles and Pringles dominate the share of display at Walmart stores across the US, but there is still room for other snack products.

The San Francisco-based retail intelligence firm collected weekly data on the snack category from around 1,200 Walmart stores for the past month, starting from August 8.

Smaller chip brands should avoid product aisles

Lay’s accounted for 54% of share of display in the potato chips category, while Ruffles made up 22% and Pringles owned 5%.

Cape Cod chips, owned by Snyder’s-Lance, made up 3% of a sample of 290 Walmart stores in Quri’s third week of research, while Kettle and Utz accounted for 3% and 1% respectively.

Quri noted that, even though Kettle has a relatively smaller share of display in Walmart, it made up 66% of the grocery chain’s deli section. Lay’s, on the other hand, only had 19% share in deli.

The deli section at Walmart “seems like an opportunity for other [snack] brands as well,” David Gottlieb, Quri’s president, told BakeryandSnacks.

“Potato chip brands such as Old Dutch and Herr's can improve their display execution by getting a higher number of displays outside of the product aisle,” he said.

“Compared to Lay's, which has 9% of display in the product aisle, Old Dutch and Herr's are lagging.

“Some of the smaller brands may not have large trade budgets to compete with the giants… these brands should consider looking at their share of display compared with their share of sales.

“If there is a big discrepancy, they may be able to build a case to get more display space,” added Gottlieb.

Popcorn category

Quri’s data indicated that Smartfood accounted for the largest share of display by brand (66%) in Walmart’s overall popcorn category, while SkinnyPop and Cracker Jack made up the category display by 8% and 6% respectively.

However, Cracker Jack beat SkinnyPop in brand share in Walmart’s “front of store” section, said Quri. Near cash registers, Cracker Jack accounted for 14% of the brand share in the popcorn category, while SkinnyPop made up less than 1%.

Regarding brand share by location, O-Ke-Doke had only 2% of shelf space in or near the home aisle of the product, but the brand took up larger share in Walmart’s deli (17%) and seasonal (8%) aisles.

“As consumer tastes continue to shift to healthier snack options, we anticipate seeing the number of popcorn and pretzel displays increase and the number of potato chip displays decrease,” said Gottlieb.