21.08.2024
Study
Five trends shaping the supermarket perimeter
The health and wellness trend has moved beyond nutrition and fad diets to encompass the whole person, the IDDBA reported at its annual convention held June 4-6 in Anaheim, California. The organization presented five major trends that it believes will shape the supermarket perimeter in 2023:
- Holistic health, heart and self
- consumer-driven convenience;
- value that matters;
- ESG;
- technology and innovation.
Promoting health and well-being combines nutrition and portion control with the importance of mental health.
“A healthy lifestyle combines both physical health and emotional well-being,” said Hart Prah, IDDBA’s vice president of education, during the What’s In Store presentation. “Consumers are more educated about nutrition and physical health than ever before, and they want to know what they are putting into their bodies. It’s no longer taboo to talk about mental health or the overall pursuit of happiness.”
Keynote speaker Alton Brown echoed this sentiment, noting that during the pandemic, more people have sought therapy than ever before, and mental and emotional health has become more pervasive in the way we think about health. He pointed to the type of consumerist attitude to health that we have. He pointed to a type of consumer he called the neo-wasters: people who don’t eat unhealthy foods but spend money on quality products. These shoppers are looking for escalation and resolution and are driven by a sense of discovery.
“Health is very important, but now the reward we give ourselves through food is also considered healthy because it makes us happy, and happiness is now part of health,” he said.
Rick Stein, vice president of fresh foods at FMI, noted that this creates an opportunity for store-bought baked goods to move away from buzzwords like “low-carb” and talk about portion size and emotional health in a more indulgent bakery category. When we asked consumers about their “approach to nutrition” (renamed because consumers avoid the term “diet”), “my personal approach to nutrition” came in second place after heart health. Consumers are adopting a personalized approach to nutrition.
The IDDBA found that consumers are now label-savvy, which opens up many opportunities for products to display their nutritional value and ESG messages on the front of the package. In fact, 63% of consumers want to see information about the main nutritional value of a product on the front of the label. Retailers can succeed by grabbing shoppers’ attention by pointing out healthy foods and the specific reasons why they are good for you.