Healthy snacks are popular. Supermarket sales in the Netherlands of snack-sized tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers rose by 16 per cent in 2024. Of the three products, snack tomatoes are clearly the top performer, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of sales. Snack cucumbers and snack peppers are also increasingly making their way into shopping baskets. This is according to data from GroentenFruit Huis, based on Circana supermarket figures.
Compare snacks and sweets
In 2024, Dutch consumers spent €4.4 billion on long-life snacks and sweets at the supermarket. This was 4 per cent more than the previous year and accounted for 9 per cent of total supermarket spending (€50.5 billion). When you include sales of snack vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers), they still make up less than half a per cent of total supermarket expenditure in the Netherlands. So there's plenty of room for growth when it comes to healthy snacking.
More buyers
There is positive news. The number of buyers of snack tomatoes reached a new record in the Netherlands. According to YouGov household panel data, 63 per cent of Dutch households bought cherry tomatoes. One-third of all tomato sales in Dutch supermarkets are cherry tomatoes, and in value terms, they represent nearly 40 per cent. A closer look at the data shows that more is being purchased per shopping trip. The average weight per visit increased by 18 per cent. Snack tomatoes were also more attractively priced in 2024, with the average price 9 per cent lower than in 2023.
A quarter increase
More than 25 per cent more snack cucumbers were sold in 2024 compared to the previous year. For snack peppers, the 12 per cent increase is slightly more modest, but still a clear year-on-year rise. Families with children are largely driving the success of snack vegetable sales. Over half of all snack cucumber purchases are made by households with children. For snack tomatoes, the share is also high at 43 per cent. It's just so easy to give the kids something healthy to snack on between meals.
Across the border
Is snacking on vegetables popular outside the Netherlands, too? Absolutely! In Germany, snack vegetable sales are developing similarly to those in the Netherlands. In 2024, 71 per cent of households in Germany bought snack vegetables. Compared to the previous year, purchase volume rose by 28 per cent. It should be noted that 2023 had slightly lower purchase levels than prior years. Lower consumer prices in 2024 undoubtedly played a role in boosting sales. While in the Netherlands the increase was mainly in volume per purchase, in Germany, the frequency of purchases also went up. German consumers spent a total of €2 billion on fresh tomatoes in 2024, with over half a billion euros spent on snack tomatoes alone.
Snack cucumbers
German shopping baskets also included more snack cucumbers last year. Volumes rose by 13 per cent to 38 million kilos, on which consumers spent nearly €160 million. In 2019, that figure was only 22 million kilos for €80 million. Currently, snack cucumbers are bought by 35 per cent of German households (compared to 27 per cent in 2019). The small pepper variant has fewer buyers. Last year, it was purchased by 2 in 10 households, with total sales reaching 6 million kilos. This information comes from GroentenFruit Huis, based on data from YouGov's representative household panel.
Source: GroentenFruit Huis