Australians' attitudes towards ‘Health and Wellness’ didn't change as much as one would have expected throughout the pandemic, instead, hygiene became the focus for 2020. This year, however, with the ongoing nature of the pandemic, attitudes have changed, and attention has shifted from hygiene to ‘holistic health’.
In its latest research report, ‘A Healthier New Normal’, Iri has explored how Australians are navigating a new world and embracing a new way of life.
Self-care and Indulgence
As Australians move to a new normal and the pandemic still impacts much of their traditional way of life, the new focus on the ‘at-home-experience’ is being seen across food, liquor, health, and beauty. As these worlds collide it creates a fine line between self-care and indulgence.
Plant Proliferation
People love plants. With their ‘naturally functional’ halo, people have always wanted to eat more plants, and now that they’re available in more convenient forms, in snacks and in supplement powders, they can. In fact, creative product development is propelling the plant-based trend, not vegetarianism and veganism.
What’s next for Plant-Based?
- Plant-based infiltrates new categories
- Brand Partnerships for plant-proteins
- Adaptogenic plants that help cope with stress
Less is More
Attitudes towards dieting are changing; Australians are no longer wanting to force themselves through deprivation dieting, instead choosing products based on what it features and what it does not contain. Consumer demand is forcing food and drink manufacturers to reduce sugar content and focus on developing natural alternatives to artificial sweeteners.
Four Key Steps in Winning the New Normal of Healthy
- Tapping into multiple trends for fragmented needs. It’s about maximizing the chances of being in the consideration set. Remember what a product contains is just as important as what it doesn’t contain.
- Target the right shopper segments. The key to creating added value in health-enhancing foods is to be able to translate the health benefit(s) of your product – or its ingredient -into a motivating message for your target consumer at the point of purchase.
- Understand the market and what your customer is after, and work with your retailer partners to activate in-store. Remember that multi-million-dollar brands are built on
- Explore partnerships with affinity brands/categories. Collaborations between high growth and ‘on-trend’ brands are now quite commonplace in the global craft beer scene. Such an approach is also being adopted by brands delivering similar desirable health benefits sought by consumers It has the potential to work well in e-commerce where buyers search on the basis of benefits (rather than categories).
