The recent Mondelez State of Snacking 2023 report surveyed 3,683 adult consumers across 12 markets, including five from the APAC region: China (n=280), India (n=516), Indonesia (n=281), Australia (n=286), and New Zealand (n=275).
“Overall we know that today nearly nine out of 10 global consumers snack daily [and this] remains an important pillar in their lives [but this year] we’re witnessing an exciting phase where consumers are prioritising a more mindful and adventurous approach,” Mondelez International Chairman and CEO Dirk Van de Put told us.
“Consumers continued to prefer snacks over traditional meals in 2023, with six out of 10 doing this [even amidst] the challenging economic climate, [and] APAC consumers in particular are especially tapped into snacking networks with eight in 10 actively discussing snacking recommendations with others compared to 74% of global consumers overall.”
Within this region, one major finding was that most of these countries view nutritional needs as the number one major snacking motivation.
“In China, India, Australia and New Zealand, the satisfaction of nutritional needs was found to be the number one snacking motivation – this was followed by mood-boosting in China and India, and staying energised in Australia and New Zealand,” the report authors highlighted.
“Indonesia stood out as having very different snacking motivations, with the number one being a source of comfort, followed by snacking as a self-reward and then as an opportunity to have a quiet moment of solitude.”
Looking at the APAC/AMEA (Asia, Middle East and Africa) region as a whole, the researchers also identified nutrition and wellbeing as an increasing focus for consumers in making their snacking purchases.
“AMEA consumers are paying the most attention to nutritional value (78%) and ingredients they find to be beneficial (77%) now compared to five years ago,” they added.
“82% of these consumers are strongly valuing well-being, specifically saying [that they had] have prioritised making health-conscious decisions [in their snacking purchases].
“[Together], this all has an impact in relation to consumers’ snack habits [including] monitoring nutritional value and portion control, as well as making health-conscious decisions when it comes to choosing their snacks.”
Mondelez has also long been a proponent of portion control as a part of their mindful snacking strategy, and its recent survey results point towards an additional benefit of this for consumers, namely the emotional benefit of feeling more ‘in control’ of their snack consumption, without a sense of sacrifice.
“Over 8 in 10 (81%) of AMEA consumers said they feel in control when moderating their snack portions, was even higher than the global number of 77%” stated the report.
“A further 70% reported that they would rather have a smaller portion of an indulgent snack than a bigger portion of a low fat/sugar alternative version; and 74% have expressed interest in snacks tailored specifically to their personal health and nutrition needs.”
Is sustainable packaging hitting the spot in APAC?
Consumers in Asia are generally known to place lower value on sustainability compared to other food and beverage purchase drivers such as health or affordability – but the report authors believes that this is on the rise.
“There is also an increased preference for sustainable packaging in this region, with 84% of consumers wishing more snacks had biodegradable packaging,” they said.
“It is also becoming more of a priority as we saw 76% say that they are prioritising snacks with less plastic packaging, and 73% say that sustainable packaging allows them to enjoy their snack more.
“[This all has the potential to make a big difference] as 92% of AMEA consumers snack daily – with 64% partaking twice a day.
“The Asia Pacific in particular had 67% of consumers saying they would pay more for snacks that are better for the environment, 65% for snacks with ethically sourced ingredients, and 64% saying they would pay a small carbon tax on a snack to offset the environmental impact of making it.”