Consumer Trends in India: Opportunities in Health and Wellness Food & Beverages

Consumer Trends in India: Opportunities in Health and Wellness Food & Beverages published by Datamonitor in April, 2010. This report consists of Pages: 67 and the price starts from US $ 1495.

Introduction

Abstract

Introduction

This report is based on trends observed in terms of changing Indian lifestyles, increasing health and wellness awareness and consumers' food and beverage product choices. This report is aimed at enabling the NPD and marketing team in FMCG companies to identify potentials in terms of product formulation and packaging, and emerging consumer segments.

Scope of this research

• Identifies current and emerging health and wellness concerns amongst Indians
• Explores drivers and inhibitors behind consumers' product choices of food and beverages with health and wellness claims
• Focus areas for FMCG companies in terms of product formulation and packaging to explore opportunities across various categories
• Geographic scope is India

Research and analysis highlights

The key emerging health concerns amongst Indians include diseases of the heart and digestive system, obesity, bone and joint pain, depression and anxiety, lack of energy and stamina and sleeplessness. While some of these are being aggressively addressed by manufacturers, there are some others which still offer a scope for product development.

The growing awareness amongst Indian consumers regarding several ingredients and their associated health benefits is making them more inclined to use nutritional information very often to make product choices. Hence there is a demand for food and beverages with health claims, and Indians are making a conscious attempt to include them in their diet.

Health food and drinks should be made available in convenient package formats to appeal to the changing consumption patterns. In a crowded market place with several products having health claims, sustained purchase and consumption is driven by product packaging, size, format aimed at providing convenience of usage to the consumers.

Key reasons to purchase this research

• Information on current consumer and product trends in the health and wellness food and beverages market
• Insights into Indian consumer attitudes towards purchase and consumption of such health and wellness food and beverages
• Identifies opportunities in terms of product formulation, packaging and positioning for food and beverages companies in India

Table of Contents

OVERVIEW

• Catalyst
• Summary

THE FUTURE DECODED

• INTRODUCTION: Food and beverage products delivering health and wellness benefits have potential for robust growth in India

• TREND: Differing segments of Indian consumers exist, each with a differing health and wellness outlook
  • The largest segment of the Indian population can be classified as ' Easy Going' with regards to health
  • ‘Health Seekers' are the fastest growing segment of Indian consumers
  • Skeptics are aware of the benefits of consumption of health and wellness products
  • ' Food Actives' are health aware, but do not readily embrace health fads
  • ‘Health Buffs' make up a very small portion of consumers in India: they have a holistic view of health and wellness, looking to maintain both a healthy diet and physical fitness
  • Key takeouts and implications: health driven marketing in India needs to appropriately adapted to the differing consumer segments that exist

• TREND: Marketers are developing healthier product formulations to differentiate themselves and to address Indians' increasing lifestyle-related health concerns
  • Milk products increasingly target the health concerns of Indian consumers
  • Oils and fats are being re-formulated and re-positioned to address health concerns
  • Bread and breakfast cereal claims are moving beyond basic nutrition in a trend that mirrors Western markets
  • There has been an especially high amount of health-aligned NPD activity in the hot beverages market (excluding coffee)
  • Fruit-based beverages have renewed health-based credibility following the activity of prominent brands
  • Sports and energy drinks is a relatively new segment in India but shows good growth potential
  • The biscuit category is one of the largest in the packaged food industry in India and has seen strong growth over the last few years, both in urban and rural markets
  • Key takeouts and implications: health and wellness orientated innovation and consumption is increasingly evident across product categories

• TREND: There has been an increased focus on development of organic food and beverages in India
  • Indian manufacturers are quickly responding to the rising domestic demand for organic foods
  • In the recent past, there have been significant efforts by governmental bodies in India to lend structure to and regulate organic food production and distribution
  • Key takeouts and implications: the organic food and beverage market in India will expand significantly in the coming years

• INSIGHT: Indian women more actively buy and consume health-aligned food and beverages although there are attitudinal similarities among the genders
  • Key takeouts and implications: more Indians are coming to realize the value of good diet and nutrition as a form of preventive healthcare

• INSIGHT: Younger generation Indians' primary health concern is their physical appearance although concerns evolve with age
  • Key takeouts and implications: Indians express interest in a myriad of health issues

• INSIGHT: Ingredient-linked health claims exert differing degrees of influence on Indians' food and beverage choices
  • Key takeouts and implications: as health consciousness becomes more granular, the specifics of health claims will increasingly dictate Indians' product choices

• INSIGHT: Indian consumers perceive freshness claims to be more influential than authentic/natural claims
  • Key takeouts and implications:

• INSIGHT: Indian women more thoroughly understand and use nutritional information from reference groups as well as packaging to aid product choice
  • Key takeouts and implications: Indians are showing an even greater interest in reading or hearing information about the relationship between food and health

• INSIGHT: Taste aspect of healthier variants of food and beverages is often a greater concern to Indian men
  • Key takeouts and implications: the most common challenge faced by companies is to ensure the taste of their products which have a health positioning.

ACTION POINTS

• ACTION: Health food and drinks should be made available in convenient and innovative package formats to keep up with the changing consumption patterns
  • Portion controlled packages would help to drive product uptake among Indian consumers who are watchful of their calorie intake
  • Re-sealability and on-the-go consumption are among most desired packaging attributes

• ACTION: While focusing on developing functional or fortified food and beverages, manufacturers should also explore opportunities in dietary supplements

• ACTION: Product development should address the emerging health and wellness needs of a fast-growing, aging demographic in India

APPENDIX

• Methodology
• Further reading and references
• Ask the analyst
• Datamonitor consulting
• Disclaimer

TABLES

• Table: Per capita expenditure on fresh and long-life packaged milk in India is currently $3.4 and has grown at a CAGR of 9% over the period 2003-2009
• Table: Per capita expenditure on oils in India is currently $1.7 and has grown at a CAGR of 9% over the period 2003-2009
• Table: Per capita expenditure on bread and breakfast cereals in India is currently just $0.5 and has grown at a CAGR of 11% over the period 2003-2009
• Table: Per capita expenditure on juices in India is currently $0.4 and has grown at a CAGR of 17% over the period 2003-2009
• Table: Per capita expenditure on biscuits in India is currently $1.3 and has grown at a CAGR of 8% over the period 2003-2009
• Table: Organic food and non-alcoholic beverage spend in five Asia Pacific countries (US$m), by country and product format, 2004-2014
• Table: Ingredient-linked health claims have a low and similar level of influence on Indian men' s choice of food and beverages
• Table: Ingredient-linked health claims have a high level of influence on Indian women' s choice of food and beverages compared to men
• Table: Key nutrient deficiencies among Indian children (2005-06)

FIGURES

• Figure: Health and wellness food and beverages in India are broadly classified into ' good for you' and ' better for you' products
• Figure: Differing segments of Indian consumers exist, each with a differing health and wellness outlook
• Figure: Information areas to assess Indian consumers' attitude towards health and wellness, and their purchase and consumption behavior of food and drinks
• Figure: More Indian men can be classified as Easy Going regarding their attitude towards health and wellness
• Figure: Companies need to work on innovative product concept and engaging campaigns to build long-term consumer awareness and demand for health foods
• Figure: Health Seekers in India are marginally skewed towards 25-49 year olds and males
• Figure: Detailed nutritional information and ingredient-linked health benefits on product packaging helps build consumer awareness among Health Seekers in India, as seen with Sundrop Oil
• Figure: There are more female health Skeptics, a segment also disproportionately skewed towards more mature consumers
• Figure: Targeted communication on product packaging to differing consumer cohorts can help address specified product claim skepticism that is prevalent among some Indians
• Figure: Indians between the ages of 35-49 constitute the highest percentage of Food Actives
• Figure: Highlighting the presence of ' real' , ' natural' and traditional ingredients is important for connecting with Indian consumers who are focused on the quality of their dietary intake
• Figure: There are more females in India who fall under the ‘Health buffs' consumer segment
• Figure: Those Indians with a high level of health pre-occupation will be potentially more attracted to unique product formulations such as probiotic ice cream
• Figure: Indians are confronted with an increasing number of lifestyle-related health concerns
• Figure: Packaged milk market in India is a fast growing segment, with variants targeted across age groups and health concerns related to heart and bone & joint health
• Figure: Owing to product formulation changes, cooking oil products in India now tout heart health benefits
• Figure: Healthier variants of bread and breakfast cereals have begun to show increased adoption and potential for growth among Indian consumers
• Figure: The hot beverages market in India is fast evolving to address age, gender and lifestyle-specific nutritional needs
• Figure: The fruit-based beverage market in India has created a lot of category awareness regarding health benefits, and presents opportunities for innovation in flavors and packaging formats
• Figure: The energy and sports drinks market in India is still in a nascent stage and offers opportunities for more brands and variants, at affordable price points
• Figure: Biscuits are emerging as the most affordable source of nutrition in India, with many products being launched with a cereal-based formulation and addressing digestive concerns
• Figure: The comparatively small organic markets in China, South Korea and India are expected to grow rapidly over the next five years
• Figure: Organic variants are increasingly available across several categories in the Indian packaged food market
• Figure: Manufacturers are including details of organic certification on product labeling to increase consumer awareness and understanding
• Figure: The Indian organic food and beverage market became more regulated with the introduction of the mandatory logo of certification by the NSOP
• Figure: Across age groups, Indian men and women show similar levels of interests in food and beverages which help improve general health and wellbeing
• Figure: Compared to men, Indian women are more interested and actively buy functional food and beverages with added health benefits
• Figure: Indian women across all age groups make a more conscious attempt to eat healthily compared to the men
• Figure: Desire to eat healthily among Indian consumers shows a multi-stage adoption pattern
• Figure: Younger Indian men look for appearance-linked health benefits from food and beverages, but with age, benefits related to ' physical energy and stamina' gain more importance
• Figure: Younger Indian women look for appearance-linked health benefits from food and beverages, but with age, benefits related to ' heart health' gain more importance
• Figure: Level of influence of several ingredient-linked product claims over Indian consumers when making food and beverage choices
• Figure: Indian consumers across all age groups are more influenced by freshness claims rather than natural/organic or authentic/home-made/original claims
• Figure: An increasing number of Indian men and women are making a conscious effort to buy organic food and drinks regularly
• Figure: Both Indian men and women show a keen interest in reading or hearing about the relationship between food and health
• Figure: Indian consumers remain unsure about whether they feel food and health information is confusing and conflicting
• Figure: More Indian women than men use nutritional information on product packaging to help make food and drink choices
• Figure: Across all age groups, more Indian men than women believe that healthy food is not tasty and enjoyable
• Figure: The design, size and labeling of health food and beverage packages need to be planned with portion control in mind, and packs should promote nutritional benefits that are easy to understand
• Figure: Create innovative packaging that allows for apportioned intake and re-use, to increase the ease of consumption of on-the-go health and wellness food and beverages
• Figure: Marketing to educate consumers on the benefits of a healthy diet is being explored by firms such as Quaker Oats to drive long-term demand in India
• Figure: Focus on creating product packaging and formulation which makes it interesting for kids to voluntarily include healthy food and beverages as part of their dietary intake
• Figure: Address the latent need for formulating food and beverages keeping in mind the health concerns and the attributes of the fast-growing, aging demographic in India

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