How to Engage SNAP Shoppers: 3 Strategies for Retailers and Brands

By: Sally Lyons Wyatt, Global EVP & Chief Advisor, Consumer Goods & Foodservice Insights

Consumers who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits wield tremendous spending power at retail and are a critically important segment to food and beverage brands. SNAP* households are spending 26% more annually on CPG food and beverage than non-SNAP households.

However, there are signs that SNAP households feel inflation’s effects more acutely than non-SNAP households. Indicators include:

• Across all CPG, foodservice, and non-food consumables categories, we see SNAP households’ contribution to marketplace spending down about 5 percentage points versus a year ago.
• While SNAP households continue to outspend non-SNAP households across all CPG products, in terms of dollars, units, and trips, their household spending levels stagnated in a year when all other consumers increased their spending.  
• SNAP shoppers make 22% more total trips than non-SNAP shoppers.

Three ways to market to SNAP consumers in 2025

Retailers and brands evolve their efforts to reach SNAP shoppers by offering delivery services and providing more program information on retailer websites and apps, but they can – and should – do more. We’ve identified three ways retailers and brands can continue their efforts to deliver on value for these resilient shoppers.

• Offer in-store and online education. Retailers and CPG brands have a wealth of educational resources from the government and within their own organizations with which to create educational materials for shoppers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (which administers SNAP) has an extensive library of resources to help SNAP recipients shop for healthy food on a budget. Many retailers and brands are using these materials well, giving shoppers helpful advice and guidance. But they need to keep going and get even more creative. Retailers and CPG brands can integrate these materials with services provided by the nutritionists and dieticians on their own payrolls to develop recipes, shopping lists, and meal ideas shoppers can access in stores or online. 

• Make meals more affordable year-round. Ahead of Thanksgiving,retailers pull out all the stops to make sure shoppers know about all the sales and promotions aimed at helping them save money when cooking their holiday meals. Holiday promos often include an estimated cost per person to help shoppers justify the cost of ingredients on the spot. Stores and brands push out text messages, emails, direct mail, flyers, TV and radio commercials, and more, with information about sale items, recipes, shopping and cooking tips, and meal suggestions to make shoppers’ lives easier during a busy time of year. Category and occasion managers work across categories and departments, looping products from the perimeter, produce, and center of store into promotions, to make it easier to find sale items and streamline the shopping trip. What if retailers were able bring the same kitchen-sink approach to smaller occasions throughout the year? That would require putting themselves in the midframe of the SNAP shopper who looks to a retailer for help with dinner occasions, snack occasions, or smaller celebrations like birthdays. Other occasions could be themed meals, like one-pan or sheet-pan dinners, or other time-saving scenarios. Tactics could include creating displays that have all the items needed for the occasion in one spot, like retailers already have for meal kits. 

• Promote occasion deals with private and name brands. While SNAP shoppers are trending up with private brands, they still contribute more to many brand names than non-SNAP consumers. We found SNAP consumers remain more loyal to name brands:  81% of SNAP dollars are spent on name brands. Given these shoppers’ preference for name brands, retailers can give shoppers deals with name brands and private brands to maximize the basket and potentially maximize profit. This could include running promotions on private brand pasta, private brand ground beef, and name brand marinara sauce, which would allow shoppers to realize value while continuing to demonstrate loyalty to their favorite brands. Many retailers already offer these types of deals, but we don’t see them applied consistently across retailers, brands, and channels.

It’s important to keep in mind that SNAP shoppers are not a static, unchanging population bloc. The SNAP program is designed be a short-term safety net to assist a household as they navigate their way to self-sufficiency. The solutions and strategies brands and retailers adopt to engage them should be flexible and as varied as the shoppers themselves.

Want to learn more about SNAP shoppers? Check out our on-demand webinar, Understanding the Resilience of SNAP Shoppers, and stay tuned for our upcoming podcast. Do you have any questions for Circana? Get in touch with us at GrowthInsights@circana.com.

*SNAP households are defined as using SNAP benefits as a payment method for 26 or more purchase occasions annually.