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HEALTH & BEAUTY FROM PAGE 57 and beauty, Ms De Castro says, “as a manufacturer, G&M Cosmetics can easily adapt to the everchanging landscape”. “Be it a new ingredient, a consumer trend requirement, or product presentation, we have the capability to be a health and beauty chameleon,” she said. “Our main goal is to give the consumer what they want, no matter the hurdle. “Over the next six to 12 months, G&M Cosmetics will continue to concentrate on the Australian market, driving brand awareness and supporting Australian retailers. “We’ll be working on new ranges and modifying our existing offering within our portfolio to ensure we’re meeting consumer demand.” Ms De Castro says the G&M Cosmetics NPD think-tank is “never ending”. “A main factor of the NPD process is to ensure we’re creating unique products that serve a purpose, not another ‘me two’ product that’s already available on the market,” she said. “G&M Cosmetics strives to create unique products that are formulated with high-quality ingredients and actually work for consumers.” Ms De Castro points to new lines launching within the next six months across G&M’s brands, singling out P’URE Papayacare’s ‘Skin Aid Spray’, which she says is 100 per cent vegan, natural and a 100 per cent active multi-use spray “that you can use on any skin condition without touching the problem area – therefore, less irritation occurs”. Achieving health organically Founded on the social mission – ‘to bring healing to the earth and humankind’ – Ceres Organics began in 1982 “as the first organic co-op in New Zealand, supplying its members with fresh fruit and vegetables”, according to co-founder and Chair Noel Josephson. “After 18 months it had outgrown the garage where it started, and migrated to become the first organic store in New Zealand, \\\[which then\\\] began distributing to other stores,” he said. It later became a company, aiming “to provide uncontaminated food and a higher standard of nutrition to help people with their health”. Mr Josephson adds that its purpose was also to reduce environmental damage by adopting organic agricultural standards that are “in harmony with the environment and the natural processes within an ecosystem rather than working destructively against nature”. “Ceres is about working on everything a business does, step by step to make it not just sustainable but also actively in harmony with nature and as a human community,” he said. “Our concept was that we created an organism with the company at the centre that was responsible to the farmers and to the consumers, and we had to balance the needs of all.” With consumers increasingly seeking healthier alternatives, Mr Josephson says Ceres has continued to attract strong growth in the Australian market because “organic food plays a big role in the better-for-you space”. “Before the pandemic we were seeing a shift \\\[towards\\\] consumers looking for more sustainable and healthier products,” Mr Josephson said. “The pandemic had encouraged this shift as consumers became more aware of their health and how much the environment ... can impact on them and their family’s health.” “Ceres Organics has been committed to organic food for nearly 40 years, making the connection between organic food and our wellbeing long before it was the trendy thing to do. Not only are we committed to organics for people’s wellbeing, but we intrinsically believe in organics to heal the world as well. As a show of commitment, we continue to develop and source organic foods from around the world, so that our consumers can have as much choice as possible to fulfil their dietary needs with organic options.” When it comes to dietary trends influencing the health category in retail, Mr Josephson agrees that interest has increased in veganism and vegetarianism, as well as in allergen avoidance, citing allergens such as gluten and dairy. Some of this, he says, is driven “by an increased awareness of the plight of our food source and our planet to sustain how we currently live”. He points to a number of new launches within the health and wellness category that meet these needs, “especially meat-free options, functional foods for improved wellbeing and more organic food availability”. Responding to such trends, Mr Josephson adds, Ceres Organics’ range of organic foods includes pantry items such as condiments and flours, and snack foods for those on the go, lunch boxes and the office drawer. “All our products are certified organic, and we offer a range of products that are vegan, gluten free, or vegetarian,” he said. “We continue to watch global trends very closely and use this information in developing great tasting products that deliver to consumers’ needs and health.” In the pipeline at Ceres are “some very exciting new products ... that will meet many consumers’ needs”, Mr Josephson says. He predicts that the next six to 12 months will bring increasing intensity around food and environmental challenges. “The organic sector holds many answers \\\[to\\\] the social and environmental problems in the world,” he said. “Our challenge is to interpret them in a way that our customers and consumers can relate to. Part of it is education, part is understanding where people are at and \\\[then\\\] meeting them there to take them forward on a journey to embrace the wonder of the living world and how great organic food is.” 58 RETAIL WORLD APR, 2021