The first Canstar Blue Taste Awards showed more than half the respondents chose snack products on the basis of their taste over price when it came to purchasing cheese, yoghurt, frozen vegetables and pies, ice cream, packaged white bread, instant coffee, potato chips, margarine and cracker biscuits.
Manager of Canstar Blue, Rebecca Logan, said: “The results provide an interesting insight into consumer snack food preferences by demonstrating most Australians will happily pay more for the extra taste kick delivered by premium snack products. This trend was consistent across each category test.
“The findings show most consumers simply won’t compromise on taste when it comes to snack foods which suggests the savage price cuts between the major supermarkets impacting milk, fresh fruit and vegetables are unlikely to extend to the snack food market which is good news for manufacturers.”
Another trend which emerged from the Canstar Blue Taste Awards Survey was the consumer support of challenger snack brands, with Mainland winning over Bega (cheese), Gippsland Dairy winning over Yoplait (yoghurt), Aldi winning over Birds Eye (frozen vegetables) and beating Sargents and Big Ben (frozen pies).
Connoisseur triumphed over Bulla (ice cream), Abbotts Village Bakery came out ahead of Wonder White and Helga’s (packaged white bread), Red Rock won ahead of Smith’s (potato chips), Nuttelex won ahead of Flora and Meadow Lea (margarine) and Nabisco won ahead of Arnott’s (cracker biscuits).
Moccona was the one exception to the rule, with the market leading brand winning the Canstar Blue Taste Award for Instant Coffee.
“It is fascinating to note it is the brands fiercely competing against the market leaders that triumphed in the area of taste satisfaction, with our survey respondents voting for challenger brands in the vast majority of categories,” said Logan.
The survey also revealed instant coffee customers had the strongest preferences out of all categories tested, with a whopping 68% of customers always buying the same brand of instant coffee compared with 33% of bread customers who were loyal to their brand of choice.
Instant coffee customers were also least likely to compromise on taste, with 64% of respondents choosing taste over price when selecting a product. They were also most likely to believe premium brands tasted better than generic brands (85% of respondents) and were least likely to look for healthier options which didn’t necessarily taste as good (22% of respondents).
Logan added: “Another interesting survey finding was the emergence of Baby Boomer respondents as the generation most loyal to their snack food brand, topping the charts when it came to consistently buying the same brand of instant coffee, potato chips, cheese and ice cream.
“The winning brands topping the taste charts also demonstrate that ‘green fever’ is extending to the snack food market, with several winners employing sustainable production methods and offering products with fewer chemicals and additives. This demonstrates many Australian consumers are keeping the environment and their health in mind even when making snack food purchases.”
Source: Canstar Blue
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