Kelloggs

UK August 2013

ISSUES IN THE MARKET

Breakfast Cereals

Considering the widespread associations of protein and building muscle, protein-focused recipes could also help to boost usage of cereals before or after exercising, with usage on these occasions so far remaining niche.

HEIDI LANSCHÜTZER

Food and Drink Analyst

Breakfast Cereals Issues in the Market

August 2013

How can the RTE cereal market drive usage beyond the traditional breakfast occasion?

Breakfast is by far the most popular occasion for eating RTE cereals, with nine in ten users doing so. Given the maturity of this market, opportunities to drive usage therefore lie in encouraging users to eat cereals for other meal occasions. More than one in four users consider breakfast cereals as a good guilt-free treat. Yet, currently less than one in six users eat RTE cereals as a snack between meals, and only one in ten eat them as a sweet treat. This suggests scope for manufacturers to translate more of this openness towards snacking into action. In line with younger consumers’ typically greater tendency to snack, under25s are most likely to eat RTE cereals as a snack between meals. They are also most likely to say that they would snack more on dry cereal throughout the day if there were more snack-size packs available, suggesting that innovation in terms of more portable snack packs could help boost usage among this age group. Manufacturers could also offer snack-sized packs of cereal such as granola as part of meal deals, which would simultaneously respond to younger consumers’ typically greater price consciousness. Together with 25-34s, under-25s show the greatest enthusiasm for cereals inspired by dessert flavours, suggesting scope to drive interest with flavour as well as format innovation, such as bite-size granola clusters in popular dessert flavours like apple crumble or banoffee pie. Moving beyond the breakfast occasion in marketing messages and placing snack packs of cereals together...