By Suzanne Vita Palazzo
Through a special arrangement, what follows is an excerpt of a current article from Grocery Headquarters magazine, presented here for discussion.
Consumers have been examining ingredient lists for years, but the growth of the wellness industry has brought this behavior to the forefront. It is no longer sufficient for a granola just to be dubbed a granola; consumers want one that delivers more than just good taste.
"If you think of wellness as a hobby, like wine tasting or music collecting, consumers always want to find the next new thing," said Jarrett Paschel, director of Tinderbox, a division of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Hartman Group. "It's just much more fun to find something that draws your interest, and it's also fun to have something new to talk about to their friends that are also into wellness."
Currently, soy, flax and hemp are among the ingredients most sought after by wellness consumers.
Rich Martin, senior marketing manager at Tulsa, Okla.-based Genisoy notes that shoppers in this category are often well-versed on the nutritional components of particular healthful ingredients and armed with a wealth of information to be used when making a decision at the shelf.
"[Previously] you literally had to teach yourself all about it. It wasn't as easy as it is now when you open up the paper and there's some article about what you should eat or shouldn't eat," he said. "Most consumers that are eating these products are used to having to do some of their own research, and they're looking to make wise decisions to begin with."
Observers note that this constant fluctuation of trends and so-called hot ingredients creates an interesting dynamic for the wellness industry, indicating that while items may come and go within the segment, the industry itself is built on a healthy base. And since consumers' desire for health and wellness is a lifelong pursuit, manufacturers of healthful products are encouraged to be innovative to keep up with ever-growing demand.
Silk Soymilk, for example, recently launched a line of products called Silk Plus, indicating that the success of its products in mainstream markets has them on track to become commodities. Priced at a premium to its current offerings, Silk Plus with Omega 3 and Silk Plus with Fiber have been developed "to respond to consumers' need and demand for fortified foods," said Scott Stevens, general manager.
Overall, many link the demand for fortified foods and functional ingredients to the baby boomers. While this population segment contains many of the pioneers who believed that food changes could positively impact an individual's health, the tangible proof they're receiving from their lifestyle changes only encourages their cause.
"As long as people age, there are always going to be issues cropping up inside of their body that they're going to want to solve or be proactive with, and that's where ingredients come in," said Melissa Abbott, research associate for the Hartman Group. "It's like they're trying to find that Holy Grail, which we all know is pretty much impossible to find. So they're always searching."
Discussion Questions: How much is the wellness trend like fashion, where "hot" ingredients - e.g. soy, flax and hemp, currently - can drive trends across categories? Is it farfetched to compared wellness shoppers to hobbyists always looking for the new thing? What does this say about marketing to wellness shoppers?