Skittles is taking a shot at the crunchy-gummy format with Gummy Crystals.
It is the brand's first candy combining a soft gummy center with edible crystals.
Mars Inc. will give fans an early taste through TikTok Shop on November 2.
It will then roll out to select retailers later this year before a national rollout in 2027.
The move puts Skittles closer to the format that grew the Nerds brand to more than $869 million in annual retail sales.
Nerds Gummy Clusters knocked Skittles out of the top sugar candy spot on the way there.
Ferrara said Gummy Clusters had overtaken Skittles as the top sugar confection in the market, according to Food Dive.
Marketing VP at Mars Snacking North America, Ro Cheng, said in a press release that the new product answers growing demand.
"SKITTLES Gummy Crystals answers the growing demand for dynamic, multi-textured treats by pairing a soft gummy center with a crystal crunch."
"[It gives] fans an entirely new way to experience the rainbow," Cheng said.
The product launch gives Skittles a new way to compete in a format Nerds helped make commercially significant.
Skittles Puts Crunch Inside Its Gummy Strategy
Gummy Crystals combines a squishy gummy center with a tangy, crunchy crystal coating.
The product comes in two varieties:
- Original, with Strawberry, Lemon, Grape, Orange, and Green Apple
- Tropical Splash, with Fruit Punch, Pink Lemonade, Mango Melon, Pineapple, and Watermelon.
The new format gives Skittles another way to stretch its familiar fruit profile.
Its lineup already includes original chewy Skittles, Gummies, Gummies Fuego, POP'd, and Littles.
"Consumer-led innovation is at the heart of Mars Snacking, and the true magic of SKITTLES lies in delivering the unexpected," Cheng added.
The product also enters a format where Nerds Gummy Clusters have already established strong consumer recognition.
Nerds introduced its crunchy-gummy combination in 2020, making Skittles' new format a competitive response six years later.
Arriving this late means Skittles has to give shoppers a reason to switch.
And its familiar flavor system makes the new texture easier to understand at the shelf.
Texture Turned Nerds Into a Category Leader
The Nerds brand was on track to pass $900 million in sales in 2025, with Gummy Clusters accounting for the bulk of it.
This is up more than 1,700% from the $50 million that Nerds was generating when Ferrara took the brand over in 2018.
Texture has a measurable role in snack behavior.
Mintel found that 48% of U.S. dessert or candy consumers agree that texture is an important part of the eating experience.
The figure shows why a soft-and-crunchy combination can give candy a stronger sensory hook.
Six years of Nerds data made the format safe enough for Mars to build its own version.
The figures show why texture can become a commercial product strategy when consumers recognize it quickly.
- Familiar formats can create demand faster. Brands should add new sensory features to recognizable products to reduce the learning curve for shoppers.
- New textures can extend mature brands. Teams should test physical product changes to give established names fresh reasons to attract trial.
- Digital drops can test new formats early. Marketers should use limited social-commerce releases to generate trial signals before wider retail distribution.
The launch also shows how established candy brands can respond when a rival format creates a new reference point for the category.
Our Take: Can Skittles Close the Crunch Gap?
Skittles has the flavor system fans already trust, and Gummy Crystals asks them to accept a texture they associate with a rival brand.
We think that Skittles closes some of the gap and none of the lead. At least not yet.
A full year of TikTok and select retail data before national rollout is enough time to find the flavor that makes shoppers stop comparing it to Nerds.
Mars is also opening the drop on November 2, two days after the one week of the year when Americans actively hunt for candy they have never tried.
Halloween assortment bags put unfamiliar candy in millions of hands without asking anyone to choose it, which is exactly the problem a new texture has.
We think that skipping it costs Skittles a season of free trial, and Nerds gets another Halloween as the only crunchy-gummy in the bowl.
Mars gets something in return, though. Anyone who buys Gummy Crystals in November made a deliberate choice to try it.
And this decision tells Mars far more about real demand than a Halloween bowl ever could.
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