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NATURAL & ORGANIC FROM PAGE 39 advises retailers to stock the “authentic, genuine health products”, rather than the “superficial alternatives”. “Providing customers with genuine health products that are natural and organic in their nature will see higher levels of customer satisfaction across the board,” she said. Considering the future, Ms Lamont predicts a further growing trend towards convenient health products that can be consumed on the go. “Consumers are increasingly health conscious and time poor,” she said, “so products that combine solutions to both of these requirements will be rewarded.” Reducing the barriers to natural OC Naturals, according to Nature’s Organics Personal Care Marketing Manager Elise Synnott, believes that a “truly” natural offering should create a great consumer experience and benefit our society and environment. “Therefore, OC Naturals includes natural ingredients, smells great, \\\[and\\\] is Australian made and environmentally sustainable,” she said. “Our aim is to reduce the barrier of entry to natural products through an affordable offering, meaning more use will benefit our environment.” In terms of challenges, Ms Synnott says that while the pandemic brought supply chain issues in 2020 due to limited supply of imported products, this created new opportunities and potential for Nature’s Organics. “Being a locally made supplier, in Ferntree Gully, Victoria, we were nimble enough to research, develop and produce new antibacterial variants to support the sudden increase in retailer sales during the early months of Covid-19,” she said. “\\\[The pandemic\\\] has driven use of all cleansing products, both with the increase in use – for example, handwash – and with more consumers spending more time at home. Shoppers are therefore preferring larger pack sizes offering more value for money.” This year, Nature’s Organics is forecasting that the share in naturals will continue to grow. “The share of households that purchase natural products is up 27 per cent and we expect this to continue,” Ms Synnott said. “We foresee that shoppers will continue to be cleansing-conscious and increasingly seek natural and effective cleansing products. “Retailers will continue to support premium brands. However, with the economic outlook expected to be stagnant in 2021, value for money will become increasing important for shoppers.” An organic shift Kooee, said to be Australia’s leading brand of ‘healthy’ meat snacks, shifted to using exclusively organic, grass-fed beef late last year, claiming to be the first brand in the meat snack category to do so. “Not only does this allow us to clearly differentiate from our competitors in the beef jerky space, but it also allows us to offer even more value to our customers at the same price point,” Kooee co-founder Shaun Malligan said, adding that combined with cleaner packaging, the brand is now leading the category in attracting incremental, non-traditional jerky customers, such as women. “This makes the ‘good-better-best’ segmentation in the category more pronounced, while also acting as a ‘halo’ effect to other brands,” he added. Kooee has also recently launched two new products into the category: Kooee Sticks, promoted as Australia’s first ‘healthy’ twiggy sticks, and Kooee Chicken Jerky, claimed to be Australia’s first natural chicken jerky. “Both products broaden the consumer base for meat snacks,” Mr Malligan said. “Kooee Sticks are popular among adults and kids and are targeted towards families who already consume twiggy sticks but would prefer one made with natural ingredients and organic beef or free range pork. “Kooee Chicken Jerky is targeted specifically towards women and non- traditional jerky consumers, who are much less likely to shop the existing range or the category in general.” Kooee says it has provided additional support to retailers via effective promotions and merchandising and is utilising the paid cost-per-click sponsored ads via Cartology for Woolworths Online to promote its products to a wider audience. Looking ahead, Kooee’s mission is to continue being Australia’s leading healthy meat snacks brand. “We want to continue to innovate to bring better meat snack options to Australian families,” Mr Malligan said, “and eventually look at export opportunities later in 2021.” 40 RETAIL WORLD APR, 2021