I. Current situation of China's snack food industry

With the rapid development of China's tourism industry, snack foods have entered a new stage of continuous improvement and innovation. The consumption of snack foods is very fast. According to statistics from Handing Consulting, the scale of China's snack food market has grown at a geometric rate in recent years, which is 20% higher than the average growth rate of the food market. It is increasingly important in the Chinese food market.

In 2009, the leisure food manufacturing industry created an industrial output value of 436.454 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.53%; realized sales income of 430.403 billion yuan, an increase of 31.39%; a profit of 11.771 billion yuan, an increase of 52.87%.

While the scale of the snack food industry is growing, the variety and category have also increased significantly. At present, the popular snack foods in the market have the following major categories: grain puffing, fried nuts, fried potatoes, fried cereals, sugar, meat and poultry, dried fruits and vegetables.

However, the production of snack food in China is far from that of developed countries. Especially compared with the United States, the world's largest consumer of snack foods, the per capita consumption gap between China and the United States is about 150 times. On the other hand, China has concentrated on the development of grain puffing products due to several major snack food manufacturers, resulting in a single product variety and fierce competition. Due to the relatively weak technical strength, the current snack food flavor is not comparable to the flavor of similar products in the world; In addition to several major joint ventures in China, the color and quality of snack food packaging produced by many state-owned small and medium-sized manufacturers are relatively rough. Due to insufficient technical strength and backward food machinery, the development of many age-appropriate products is still blank.

Second, the competitive landscape and development trend of China's snack food industry

Since the 1990s, after more than a decade, the Chinese snack food market has undergone earth-shaking changes. As a home base for convenience food and snack food sales, the main battlefield is still in the coastal cities, but the space for market expansion in these places has gradually narrowed. Therefore, with the development of the supermarket chain industry in the country, snack foods have emerged. The development of the surrounding and central and western regions is expanding.

China's snack food has gone through the populist period and the entire stage of oceanization. Now it has entered a period of serious homogenization. There is no substantial difference from concept to entity. The price of homogeneity is the climb of sales expenses:) 03 China The promotion cost of biscuit products was 1.638 billion, an increase of 16.25% year-on-year, and the industry profit fell to 4.5% (the dangerous point of industrial production is 5%). This is a road that does not see hope. Producers and distributors are confused. - Where is the snack food going?

Although the snack food industry is rapidly expanding and growing, and it is gradually being valued by enterprises, we should also see that in the current domestic leisure food market, foreign capital and joint ventures still occupy the absolute advantage of the market. Many local enterprises cannot keep up with the market. The pace of development cannot be continued to be bigger and stronger, and eventually it will be eliminated by the market. This is one of the reasons why the high-end snack food in the domestic market has been monopolized by foreign capital.

Moreover, the number of food companies is numerous, and the “price war” of snack foods is one after another, and the categories are becoming more and more abundant. The choice of consumers is growing, and the market competition is getting stronger. Many factors have made casual food companies face enormous challenges while welcoming development opportunities. In the era of the "Warring States" where the heroes are together, what direction should the local snack food industry develop in?

Enterprises should start from the following aspects:

1. Health is the development trend of snack foods

In Western countries, low-oil potato foods and snack foods based on fruits and vegetables have been favored by people, and sales momentum is getting better and better. This shows that in the increasingly competitive market, snack foods are beginning to become healthier. With the development of the leisure food industry and the improvement of people's living standards, snack foods are beginning to be close to people's lives, but due to unhealthy eating habits, excessive intake of high-calorie, high-fat foods and insufficient exercise, etc., especially The problem of childhood obesity has become the focus of attention in urban families, and the relationship between snack foods and obesity has also attracted more and more attention. Therefore, the development of healthy and functional foods will be the mainstream of the future of the snack food market.

2, new product development will be close to living habits

Snack food is a food that consumers come into order for "leisure". It is a food that makes consumers feel relaxed, casual and enjoyable. Therefore, the future leisure food industry will be closer and closer to people's daily life and eating habits, such as soups, foods that are easy to chew and facilitate digestion and digestion will be well received in the snack food market.

3. Differentiation is the direction of enterprise development

The leisure food industry has broad market prospects and great development potential, but as the food industry has entered a stage of complete competition, corporate profits are increasingly averaging, and industry consolidation and market segmentation are nearing completion. Therefore, leisure food enterprises should seize the opportunity to jump out of the homogenization circle of products, implement differentiated strategies, use differentiated features to enhance consumers' consumption awareness, and closely link consumers and enterprises with the inherent superiority of products. Innovative products, building brands and expanding the market have emerged as a sustainable development path.

4, the brand becomes the key to competition

The growing market for snack foods and the continuous improvement in consumption levels have made cross-foreign companies optimistic about the Chinese market. As early as more than 10 years ago, multinational corporations such as Wrigley and Danone began to enter the Chinese market. Now they have basically completed the integration of enterprises, product segmentation and market layout. In the future, they will increase market expansion and use their financial strength. Experience in brand management, channel operation and other aspects have greatly eroded the Chinese snack food market. Therefore, when foreign-funded enterprises quickly occupy the Chinese market, local leisure food enterprises want to be in an invincible position, they must strive to improve the quality of products, constantly innovate products, and pay more attention to the establishment and cultivation of brands, the brand is decided The key to competitiveness.

5. Local companies should jointly expand the market

The strong foreign investment and the maturity of the market have prompted local companies to become more aware of brand awareness and solidarity. Some powerful domestic enterprises have begun to dissatisfy the status quo of foreign capital alone occupying most of China's markets, and unite to compete with foreign brands. The Fujian Army Corps is a dark horse that has been rapidly "red-hot" in recent years. They have made their work, such as collective efforts, celebrity endorsements, concept creation and location advantages in CCTV advertising, so that Yake, Geek, Kiss, Yinlu, etc. It has become a domestic first-line brand, gradually has the ambition to expand outward and the demand for rapid brand building, and has become a rapidly emerging emerging brand.

China has entered an era of diversified social groups. The value orientation and demand standards among groups are also diversified. Therefore, many differentiated spaces provide the basis for the economic development of small enterprises and products with local characteristics. Making regional endowment products into circulation products with general cognitive value will be a meaningful direction for many regional products and even some traditional crafts to be retained. Whether it is leisure or diversification, it is actually a modern, modern slogan for a long time. I think the modernization of our biscuit industry is also diversified. The eyes are right outwards, but it does not mean that the eyes are not modernized. An important element of modernization should be diversity.

Standing in front of China's huge territory, what we see should not be just the huge absolute market, but we should also see these relative market values.

Although local snack food enterprises are still in a weak position and market competition is so fierce, China's snack foods have strong vitality and broad market prospects, and the food industry has entered a stage of complete competition. Corporate profits are increasingly averaging, market segmentation and industry integration will also Completion, therefore, leisure food enterprises should seize the opportunity of development, through the use of new product research and development, brand building and market expansion, and use differentiated strategies to embark on a fast, healthy and sustainable development path.