The health attributes of a product are now a key consideration for many consumers, a factor that, according to some, has been accelerated by the pandemic.
Golden Grind co-founder Sage Lamont, for instance, told Retail World: “Consumers are inclined to pay more attention to their health and wellness when a health crisis occurs. This was also seen during the [UK’s] ‘mad cow’ crisis in 2000.”
Two of the most common terms associated with healthier products are ‘natural’ and ‘organic’. Consumers are choosing products with such descriptions, across all categories of the supermarket, for a variety of reasons, including lifestyle, diet and sustainability.
Ms Lamont says food labelled ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ attracted “huge” growth in 2020.
“The global pandemic … saw consumers take interest in bettering their health and wellness through natural and organic foods,” she says.
Significant growth wasn’t just limited to food, though.
Natures Organics Personal Care Marketing Manager Elise Synnott notes that in 2020, ‘natural’ hair care brands in grocery grew 15.5% (IRI AU Grocery Scan, 2020 vs 2019). This growth, she says, contributed 61% of the total hair care category growth.
In personal wash, Ms Synnott adds, ‘natural’ brands grew 62%, increasing share to 25%.
“Qualitative studies highlight consumers have an increasing interest in natural products,” she says. “In personal wash, the number of households that purchased natural products grew 26%, compared with 4% growth in shoppers that purchased non-natural products.”
Ms Lamont advises retailers and brands that customers are becoming increasingly educated, with unlimited access to information.
“As a result, they’re savvier than they’ve ever been,” she says. “What this means for the natural and organic categories is that brands need to be authentic in their product claims. It’s not enough to use fluffy terminology to market and sell a health product. The product must have the ingredients and efficacy to back up the notion that it’s a health product.”
Read about the latest in natural and organic in the April issue of Retail World.