Top Five Trends in Snacks

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key findings

Getting prices right is the snack industry’s core challenge in 2026

Consumers’ top concern currently is the rising cost of living, and this is shaping how they buy snacks more than any other factor. To succeed, the industry will need to keep prices low where possible and understand the narrowing window of areas (clustering around wellness, convenience and affordable indulgence) where premiumisation strategies still work.

Volume growth is struggling in the face of numerous headwinds

A difficult demographic outlook, years of high prices (within both snacks and consumer goods more generally), GLP-1 usage and legislative changes have made increasing volumes difficult for snacks. Growth remains possible, though, through targeting of selected categories and markets where potential remains.

Wellness trend are pushing consumers to seek ways to self-optimise

Wellness is a major consumer concern and is especially important as a rare avenue for premiumisation. While “wellness” contains numerous sub-trends, the key unifying wellness trend of 2026 is a pursuit of self-optimisation to exert control over a world that seems to be increasingly unpredictable.

GLP-1 usage is expanding rapidly and becoming a global phenomenon

GLP-1 usage has been shaping snack consumption in North America for years but is now becoming a truly global force and exerting increasing impact in regions like Europe and Latin America. Pivoting snack portfolios into a more GLP-1 friendly direction will be important for companies to thrive in this new environment.

Snackification trends are running into shrinking meal portions

Snackification trends remain powerful. They are particularly boosted by a trend towards smaller portions in the meal space caused by economising, smaller households and GLP-1s, creating an increasingly blurred boundary between snacks and meals that potentially creates opportunities for the snack industry to gain consumption occasions.