Traditional popcorn-based snacks are growing beyond their well-established presence in the USA, thanks to complex flavours and healthy organic and natural variants, according to an analysis of global launches by Innova Market Insights.
Innova has found that gourmet lines, already established in the USA, are starting to make their way across the Atlantic, bringing "a whole raft of more complex flavours and moving the sector away from its traditional 'cinema' image and a simple sweet or salty flavour choice".
The research firm found that global launches rose over 8 per cent in the 12 months to the end of June 2014, equivalent to 5 per cent of total snacks launches over that period.
The USA was the leading individual country in terms of launch numbers, reflecting the size and maturity of its market. It accounted for over 20 per cent of total introductions, but this was behind Europe, where the large number of countries involved took its share to 36 per cent.
Over half of the popcorn launches recorded globally in the 12 months to the end of June 2014 were positioned on a health platform of some kind, rising to over 78 per cent in the USA.
According to Innova, naturalness was the key area of interest, with over 28 per cent of global launches using either a natural or additive-/preservative-free positioning or both, rising to over 30 per cent if organic claims were included.
“Ready-to-eat popcorn has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the snacks market in many countries in recent years, having had something of a makeover to promote healthier, clean-label snacks in a wide range of increasingly sophisticated flavours,” says Lu Ann Williams, director of innovation at Innova Market Insights.
Innova found over half of the popcorn launches were positioned on a health platform of some kind.
