Who doesn’t love a good snack?

Always at the ready, those crispy, crunchy, chewy provisions are our comfort food when we’re down, meal replacement when we’re in a hurry, companion when we’re relaxing and party staple when we’re celebrating.

As snack manufacturers look to tailor offerings to deliver snacks that appeal to both the palate and the psyche, knowing what drives a consumer to pick one snack rather than another is vital to stay competitive in the $374 billion worldwide snacking industry.

So what’s the go-to nosh for consumers craving a snack—salty, savory, sweet or spicy? How much are health considerations taken into account when selecting a snack? As the size of category sales and consumer need-states across the worldwide snacking industry vary widely from region to region and country to country, finding growth opportunities requires both a global and local understanding of what consumers say and do—which are not always the same.