'Natural' tops product development trends for 2013, says report
10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2013 says naturality has become "the direction people want to go in", and will shape and drive the market in the coming year.
The report highlighted consumer research that was conducted by Kampffmeyer Food Innovation, a Germany-based supplier of grain ingredients. The research findings showed that 74% of people surveyed thought that 'natural' meant 'healthier', illustrating how the idea of naturalness is connected to healthier products in the minds of consumers.
Profited off the back of natural
The report highlighted several boom markets that have profited off the back of a 'natural' platform.
It stated that sales of coconut water had soared because of its 'all-natural' benefits. It added that Green Coco, Europe's largest coconut water brand, experienced 60% sales growth in 2012 "without any marketing investment [and] no advertising."
It also reported that the Wonderful Pistachios brand had become one of the most successful healthy snack launches of the last decade, with retail sales growing from zero to more than £250M from 2008 to 2012, and focused on the explosive growth of the Greek yogurt market in the US, which it claimed had been powered by the Chobani brand tagline: 'Nothing but good'.
'Direction people want to go in'
Report author Julian Mellentin said: "Naturality was the top trend in 2012 and will remain so in 2013. Quite simply, it's the direction people want to go in. Naturality resonates positively with consumers in multiple ways and it provides food and beverage companies with opportunities to market products that command a premium.
"Although its exact definition can be debated, naturality does not fall foul of health claims legislation but still manages to convey wellbeing-related messages. 'Natural' is something defined in the mind of the consumer, not by technical or regulatory definitions and, for many people, it also means healthy."
He added: "Naturality has, in effect, also become a super-trend because its influence can be seen across a whole host of food and beverage categories. It now affects the direction of several other key trends including energy, dairy and digestive health."
