Office workers digging into snack market

Late last year, the company introduced marinated duck gift boxed products, and the phrase in Chinese for receiving the bird became synonymous with wishing one a job promotion and salary rise. Bearers of such succulent gifts hope to cheer up anxious young office employees or college graduates, often quarantined at home, who were looking for new jobs and a way out of the isolation.

The product was jointly launched by Zhaopin, a Beijing-based online recruitment platform, and it has become a hot commodity by young office staff.

Another Wuhan-based snack retailer Bestore Food Co Ltd, which generates most of its sales selling meat snacks, nuts, candies and pastries, once introduced a leisure food product called communication cookies.

Every cookie is engraved with different patterns, and people can choose customized words for recipients, giving the product a sense of social connectivity.

Bestore said such cookies can help people better communicate face-to-face with each other at a time when most people are used to communicating online or by mobile phones.

"China's snack market has been growing rapidly, and offices serve as an important venue for consumption of snacks. With increasing homogenization of products, snack retailers need to create their core competencies with differentiated advantages," food industry analyst Zhu said.

"By launching some innovative products and co-branding with companies from different sectors, such snacks not only satisfy demand for differing tastes, but also satisfy emotional demands from consumers," Zhu said.

"Mid- and high-end snacks are expected to draw more consumers, and they will develop in more detailed segments and target buyers from different age groups having different tastes and functions," he said.

Major snack retailers in China saw booming sales growth last year. In 2020, Hunan-based snack maker Yanjin Shop Food Co Ltd recorded sales revenue of 1.96 billion yuan, jumping 39.99 percent year-on-year.

Last year, its net profit reached 277 million yuan, surging 101.11 percent. The Shenzhen-listed retailer has seen stable sales and profit growth since it went public in 2017. The company mainly sells tofu, dried beans, candied roasted seed nuts and potato chips. It also offers different products in different areas, based on local tastes.

Yanjin Shop sells most of its snacks in small packages, and consumers can take different kinds and weigh them altogether. This helps buyers choose more varieties of products at one time, and is beneficial for companies hoping to phase out categories that are less popular, according to a research report by Minsheng Securities.

Other major snack players also performed well last year. Anhui province-based Qiaqia Food Co Ltd, a major producer of roasted seeds and nuts, said its sales last year likely hit 5.29 billion yuan, up 9.35 percent year-on-year. In 2020, its net profit likely reached 790 million yuan, expanding 30.89 percent year-on-year, the company said.

This year, sales of leisure foods in China are expected to hit 1.16 trillion yuan, growing 3.2 percent over last year, according to consultancy iiMedia Research.