The global snacks industry is going through a difficult period. Retail value sales growth from 2025 to 2026 reached its lowest level globally since the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, numerous bright spots exist in areas like wellness-orientated snacks, affordable indulgences and emerging occasions.
Pricing remains the most important question
The leading concern of consumers globally is the rising cost of everyday items such as food. The snacks industry, after years of focusing on pushing through price increases, has shifted more emphasis onto volume growth, with major players like PepsiCo announcing price cuts on portions of their portfolio. Even with this new shift, private label growth continues to be a major trend, though branding in snacks remains far more important than in other areas of packaged food. There will be new pressure on prices into 2027 from factors such as high energy costs and El Niño impact.
Volume growth challenge continues for industry players
Volumes are performing slightly better than they did during most of the post-pandemic period though the industry remains stuck at 1% retail volume growth annually, the same rate it hit in 2025. It is expected to remain at this level throughout the forecast period.
Source: Euromonitor International
The impact of high prices (both in snacks specifically and in the economy overall), a difficult demographic outlook in most markets and the impact of GLP-1s have all combined to weigh down volume growth prospects. Price cuts, targeting of new occasions and expansion to developing markets with better demographics have been the major strategies the industry has adopted to try to circumvent this problem.
Wellness offers most promising path towards premiumisation
Wellness remains the most desired attribute after low price among consumers when shopping for a food or beverage product. Protein and fibre continue to dominate the wellness conversation with snacks, though the market is growing crowded and risks of a “protein bubble” are becoming more serious. Also of great importance right now is shifting regulatory patterns. Governments around the world are taking aim at ultra-processed foods and the snacks industry often sits directly in their crosshairs. Many companies such as Mars have announced pre-emptive reformulations in order to get out ahead of expected future regulation.
Globalising GLP-1 impact is increasingly shaping snacking
Patent expirations, pill formats and expanding use cases have all driven GLP-1 usage to new heights with little reason to believe growth will stop any time soon. 2026 has in particular seen a major globalisation of usage, with countries like Brazil experiencing strong upticks in usage in this new market environment. The snacks industry has already been pushing in a more protein- and fibre-heavy direction in order to better speak to GLP-1 users. This year, there has been more exploration of the possibilities in controlled forms of indulgence as well. Lindt, in particular, has reported success with this newer indulgence-focused approach.
Blurry snacking/meals line offers opportunity
Consumers living lifestyles shaped by trends such as irregular and gig work, changing socialisation patterns and supressed appetites from GLP-1s are increasingly reshaping what a meal can be. In many cases, they are replacing a meal with a filling snack or using snacks as a portion of the meal. Gen Z is particularly likely to do this, with 14% reporting replacing meals with snacks in 2026, according to Euromonitor’s Voice of the Consumer: Lifestyles Survey. This is an opportunity for the industry, though it is an emergent occasion others are also looking at, including foodservice, ready meals and even protein shakes.
Learn more about the state of snacking and the trends shaping the industry in Euromonitor’s report, Top Five Trends in Snacks. To dive deeper into one of the key supply chain challenges facing snacks right now, read our article El Nino's Potential Impact on Latin American Consumer Goods.