Why has “pistachio flavor” products become so popular? A study of consumer trends based on search data.

Pistachio nuts are a type of nuts with a hard shell. They can be roasted and seasoned with salt or made into pastes and used in sweets; they have a wide range of uses. Pistachio nuts are used in cooking and confectionery all over the world, not only for their unique rich and savory flavor, but also for their bright green color, which adds flourish to dishes.

By using the online activity log analysis tool “Dockpit”, we can see that the number of users searching for “pistachio” in 2020 shows a sharp increase in the second half of the year, especially from October onwards.

In Japan, many pistachios nut related products started to appear around on shelves between 2019 and 2020. Although major companies such as MUJI (pistachio vanilla cookies) and DEAN & DELUCA (pistachio nut cream) had some products before then, they were not as popular as they are now.

However, in 2020, various companies started selling pistachio flavored products more widespread, and in August, the pistachio sweets specialty store “PISTA&TOKYO” opened at the Yaesu North Exit of Tokyo Station, attracting huge attention. In fall and winter of the same year, convenience stores also began to sell pistachio flavored products. It appears that that due to more contact points for consumers to be exposed to these products at convenience stores led to more people becoming curious, and in turn resulted in more consumers searching the term.

Furthermore, if we look at the trend of users searching for “pistachio” since the beginning of 2021, we can see that the average number of users has increased from approximately 80,000 in 2020, to approximately 120,000. This indicates that attention has continued to increase. In particular, there were three points in 2021 when the number of searches increased significantly: January, June, and October.

The period from December 2020 to January 2021 was also when the number of pistachio flavored products at Seven-Eleven increased rapidly, including “Seven Cafe Pistachio Cookies”, “Pistachio Pudding”, “Pistachio Pudding Ice Bar”, “Pistachio Latte”, “Pistachio Chocolate”, and so on. It was almost as if the store was taken over by pistachios, regardless of whether you looked at PB or NB products. Even consumers had not affinity to pistachios prior to this started to pay attention to them on seeing the large number of pistachio flavor products.

After Seven-Eleven’s success, in June of the same year many other pistachio flavored products were also released by other convenience stores, such as “Uchi Cafe' Pistachio Waffle Cone”, “Pistachio Cake Ice Cream” and “Pistachio Steamed Buns” by Lawson, and “Toraku Fragrant Pistachio Pudding” by FamilyMart. From October, in addition to convenience stores, confectionery manufacturers such as Bourbon (Alfort Mini Chocolate Premium Pistachio) started to introduce pistachio flavored products one after another, accelerating the pistachio boom.

Now, let's take a deeper look at the users of this search term. When looking at the attributes of users searching for “pistachio” by gender and age, we can see that most searches are conducted by women in their 30s and 40s.

It is likely that women in their 30s and 40s, who have more time and money to spare, are the ones most likely to be interested in enjoying the rich taste of pistachios and are especially attracted to the photogenic effect of the bright green color. In the 2020 to 2021 period, restrictions due to COVID-19 made it difficult for people to keep up appearances on social media by sharing images of travel or outdoor activities etc. Therefore, pistachio sweet products serving a role of creating an extraordinary feeling and adding a splash of color to social media posts may be one of the reasons for their popularity.

By looking at the demographic map of “pistachio” search users, we can see that many women are searching for the words of “effect”, “efficacy”, “nutrition”, and “diet”. Pistachios are so nutritious that they are called the "Queen of Nuts" and contain vitamins, minerals, and good fats. One of the reasons for their boom in popularity may also be due to their nutritious content that is seen to be beneficial to women, improving intestinal environment, and contributing to maintaining beautiful skin and hair, and preventing dryness.

Next, let's take a closer look at the monthly search results and see how they have changed along with the products that have been released.

As many pistachio flavored products were introduced by convenience stores in late 2020, we can see that many people searched for “pistachio” along with the name of the convenience stores. Notably, “MOW Pistachio & Milk” sold only at Seven-Eleven, and “Pistachio Ice Cream” released by Ministop, were the big hits in November.

For Valentine's Day shopping season there were more pistachio flavored products released by different sweet makers such as Tirol Choco, Black Thunder, and Carre de Chocolat. As pistachios were gaining more attention, all related products were reported widely by internet news sites and became hot topics on SNS platforms.

There were some people searching for “pistachio” nuts sold in bulk at Costco. This development suggests more and more people were gradually becoming interested not only in pistachio flavored items, but also in the original pistachio nut ingredient.

In May 2021, when the number of searches settled down and the pistachio boom had almost whittled out, Morinaga released its “Pino Pistachio” on May 31 which went on to become a huge hit throughout June.

Even prior to the product release, “Pino Pistachio” became a hot topic on SNS and was in short supply. The word network of users searching for “pistachio” in June clearly shows that many people searched for words such as “not selling”, “where”, or “where to buy”.

The accelerated pistachio boom reached its climax in October 2021. In October 2021, Komeda Coffee Shop released “Shiro Noir Zestful Pistachio”.

As this product was a pistachio flavor version of the already popular original Shiro Noir, we can see that many people were curious about it and carried out searches.

▼Related articles (in Japanese): Manamina has published various research articles related to the food industry. Please read these articles if you are interested in learning more.

So far, the reason pistachio flavored products have become such a hit is due to new product information being released online where it then rapidly becomes a hot topic. The impact of the bright color and the photogenic appearance of pistachios are well suited for use and promotion on social media, and the rich taste evokes a sense of a “little luxury”. In addition to these points, the sheer fact that there were many pistachio flavored products readily available at convenience stores may also be one part of the secret behind the buzz.

It will be interesting to see whether the popularity of pistachios will end up being a passing fad, or if they become a staple flavor that will continue to satisfy consumer demand for “little daily luxuries”.

【Summary】
・The data in this investigation is from “Dockpit”, an analysis tool with online behavior log data and user demographic information under the permission of panelists in Japan presented by VALUES, Inc. between January 2020 to November 2021.

* The numbers of users are estimated by the data in the monitor and the internet population in Japan.
※Devices: PC and Smartphone