Products that are free from gluten, GMOs and antibiotics are topping the list of natural product market trends for 2012.
According to a recent MamboTrack survey by Mambo Sprouts Marketing, consumers are just as concerned about what's not in their products as what is.
This label and ingredient focus was a highlight of the recent MamboTrack study. Mambo Sprouts surveyed the buying habits of 1,000 health and natural product consumers to get an outlook on market trends for 2012.
Health and natural consumers are paying more attention to what goes into the products they purchase. Almost all (99 percent) buy organic foods, non-GMO products (93 percent), antibiotic free (ABF) and hormone-free meat and poultry (85 percent), and gluten-free foods (69 percent). More than half plan to increase purchasing of organic foods (64 percent), non-GMO (56 percent), ABF and hormone-free products (52 percent), and 38 percent plan to increase gluten free purchases.
Among the 66 percent of consumers who seek out non-GMO foods, 85 percent want food products to be specifically certified and labeled as non-GMO. Seventy percent believe that products labeled "USDA Organic" are non-GMO. This compares to just 41 percent of consumers who expect "natural" products to be non-GMO. To that end, two in three (67 percent) wish their favorite retail stores provided more information about non-GMO such as signage, special sections and advertising features.
Notably, 68 percent cited "ingredient list" as a key brand purchase factor for 2012. Among the other purchase drivers, health and nutrition benefits (69 percent), organic ingredients (51 percent), price (51 percent), and coupons (47 percent) were frequently ranked as "very important."
And while consumers expect to increase organic purchasing across all product categories, Karen Herther, director of MamboTrack Research, says health conscious consumers remain torn over their organic preferences and price. "Price is still very much a top-of-mind factor among consumers---driving where people shop and how marketers position and promote their products."
While prices (69 percent) were among the factors most important to consumers in deciding where to shop in 2012, they also ranked selection of healthy/organic products (68 percent vs. 56 percent), safe food preparation and storage (62 percent vs. 55 percent) and environmentally friendly practices (31 percent vs. 25 percent) higher than in 2011.
The Mambo Sprouts Marketing 2012 Consumer Survey Report will be available for purchase.
