Our Chief Commercial Officer, Douglas Rash, shares his thoughts on what's driving the latest trends across the beverage industry.
Adult millennials and GenZ consumers make up almost 50% of the world’s population, representing a potential four billion health-conscious consumers shaping innovation across the beverage industry. Understanding what matters to them has never been more important for businesses across the beverage supply chain.
Anticipating, understanding, and reacting to the macro environmental trends impacting beverage innovation is very much part of the modern skillset at Treatt. Our insights team work closely with our innovation, product management, applications, and sales colleagues to ensure we maintain our relevance to the dynamic and challenging markets we all serve.
We use these insights to shape our own new product development, as well as support our customers’ innovation strategies as they seek to differentiate themselves in rapidly changing environments.
While the pace of innovation in our industry quickens, we continue to see very strong signals that suggest consumer interest in Health & Wellbeing has morphed from being a trend to a way of life. It remains a key motivator for consumers globally as it continues to evolve, sparking new opportunities for beverage innovation.
Who’s driving innovation?
GenZ and Millennials are the dominating cohorts in a complex, five generation consumer landscape. Transparency, accountability, and trust are key to engaging with these two key demographics, as their influence over innovation only intensifies. The state of the climate and the move towards a green economy are also high on the agenda.
Sustainability is no longer a ‘nice to have’ as consumers expect brands to move at the speed of societal change by making a genuine commitment to being transparent about progress
Macrotrend: Health For All
As the Health & Wellbeing movement evolves, we are seeing increasing interest in consumer goods and services that are designed for everyone, and every occasion. This trend speaks to a growing interest in mental wellbeing, as well as one’s physical health, and now crucially, also encompasses health of the planet.
TRENDBITES
We go beyond the macro to understand how megatrends like Health & Wellbeing evolve – and work with our internal teams, as well as our customers, to best understand how all of this creates opportunities for differentiation in our industry.
Sustainability and Ethics
This trend was born from the increasing desire to feel good about consumption choices in everyday life. There is mounting awareness and concern surrounding the scale, complexity and interdependence of social and environmental challenges globally.
Moderation and Avoidance
Consumers exhibit restraint as a means of supporting or improving their wellbeing. In doing so, they are moderating ‘villain’ ingredients, such as sugar and artificial ingredients for the good of their long-term health. The ‘no added sugar’ positioning is valued and increasingly embraced by manufacturers as one of the most prominent on pack claims across beverage categories.
Fresh and Natural
A growing population of global consumers continue to shun highly processed products and artificial ingredients, in favour of those with stronger natural credentials. Such qualities are often perceived as healthier, cleaner, more authentic, and ultimately better quality.
Sensory and Indulgence
Consumers are seeking enjoyment beyond tangible products themselves. They are becoming increasingly experience-driven and are willing to pay more for an enhanced brand experience. It is therefore becoming more important for brands to perform at an experiential level, and offer, varied, novel, and complex sensations for optimal enjoyment.
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