Beverage Trends

Everyone loves a yummy and satisfying drink, whether it's a hot or cold beverage. Here's a quick overview of beverage trends.

• Cost of living concerns are leading to a jump in the sales of private label store brands.

• Dairy alternative beverage innovations continue to grow sales, but the preference for the taste and texture of dairy milk still appeals to many consumers.

• Healthier-for-you drinks with clean labels, natural ingredients, and reduced sugar and calorie content are being demanded by consumers. These drinks support immunity, energy, mental acuity, and overall well-being - the ‘keep me going, but keep me well’ solution for busy people.

• Manufacturers are reducing sugar in fizzy drinks, juices, and energy drinks to mitigate concerns with high sugar content and adverse health outcomes.

• Beverage marketers can entice consumers to try their products by introducing limited-edition flavours, seasonal varieties, and innovative pairings. This enables them to reach demographic groups or highlight their use in different social situations.

• Young gamers have distinct preferences and want beverages that enhance mental and physical performance for their mammoth gaming sessions.

• Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns are a consideration for younger demographics when choosing a drink. This can mean they look at a product's packaging critically, so manufacturers who push eco-friendly alternatives and limitations on single-use plastics will be viewed favourably.

Consumer Trend Forecasting

It’s that time of year when we look at consumer preference trends in 2017 and forecast what 2018 might be like. If you want some futuristic inspiration or need to get up-to-speed quick smart with what’s changing, try these reports on trends…

• Kantar Millward Brown's Media & Digital Predictions provides marketers with a guide to the challenges and opportunities ahead in 2018.

• Euromonitor's 'What's New in Retail: Emerging Global Concepts in 2017'.

• The Innovation Group’s ‘The Future 100 2018’, their annual snapshot of the year ahead and the most compelling trends to keep on the radar.

• NPD’s ‘Food and Beverage Industry Predictions for 2018’.

• Euromonitor sets out their forecasts for six industry sectors; automotive, consumer goods, retail, financial services, healthcare and telecommunications in 2018.

• New Zealand retail trends for 2018

Looks like we're on the cusp of massive change! Email me (cathy@heath.co.nz) if you need help keeping up with it all. We specialise in getting rid of the all the noise, so you only get the good, life-changing insight.

New Zealand Food and Beverages

New Zealand is well known for the quality of the food it produces.

Surveys show that around 70% have a clear preference to buy food such as vegetables, meat, fruit and milk which are produced in New Zealand. Around 14% of Kiwis buy New Zealand food products because they are proud of what their compatriots have gown, but 59% strongly or somewhat agree that they buy local brands because they want to support NZ business. Sounds like identifying NZ made products is an important branding tool that food producers need to include on their packaging to attract consumers.  

Made in...NZ? Preferences for Local and Global Brands

Price and Product Choice for Consumers

In 2015, New Zealand consumers were introduced to 13,984 new branded products. Nielsen found that only 64 (0.4%) had sales over $NZ1 million, with only 7 products being truly innovative new offerings. The rest were just line extensions. Manufacturers seem to be sticking to rather boring ways of growing their market share and in turn, reinforcing price sensitivity. However, smart, nimble small innovators have a chance to grab a slice of the market if they can look at changing demographics and target those with growing populations. Think Chinese, South Korean, Indian and Pacific Island peoples, as well as the growth in millennials and the over-50s.

Free Market Research!

Millie is a new market research tool which gives a lot for free. It brings together market research, news, and reports in one place, with the added bonus of a robust search platform which enables you to filter out the info you don't want. When I tested 'Millie' on a search for avocados and the recent price hike, it directed me to a variety of national and international websites explaining the reasons behind the rising cost of this fruit, as well as analysts reports on large scale growers of avocados, and links to further earlier news reports. The result screen is a bit overwhelming to look at to start with, but once you get to grips with it, the information has been nicely curated, and offers text analytics too. One restriction for me was that it only covers eight sectors at the moment, but they are big ones such as food and beverage, health care, energy etc. Millie is a work-in-progress, so this may change, but even as it stands now, it is a pretty good resource for the desk researcher.