Do consumers want personalized beverages?

By Will Cowling, marketing manager, FMCG Gurus

02-Nov-2020 - Last updated on 02-Nov-2020 at 08:37 GMT

Juices are an attractive base for personalized beverages, given they already contain real nutritional ingredients. Pic:getty/mizina

Personalized nutrition is somewhat a revolutionary technology within the beverage industry, offering consumer specific nutrition recommendations in real-time based on their DNA and gene profiling. But are consumers aware of this technology, and would they be willing to use it to improve their health and wellness? Will Cowling of FMCG Gurus presents survey data in this guest article.

COVID-19 has had a major impact on consumers questioning their overall health and wellness. FMCG Gurus research shows that although consumers show concern towards the virus, 66% of global consumers deem themselves to be in good health.

However, consumers are still seeking new ways in which they can improve their health as they look to adopt a holistic health approach to their lifestyles. This can be seen as six in ten consumers state they regularly research different ways to improve their health.

This indicates that although consumers feel that they have good health, they are still showing proactive signs to improve their health, heightened by the concern of COVID-19.

Top opportunities: juice, water, yogurt drinks

Personalized nutrition products can offer consumers specific nutritional recommendations which in turn will keep them healthy with the right nutrients they need.

Consumers find these products highly attractive as FMCG Gurus consumer insights show that 63% for global consumers are interested in beverage products that are customized to meet their individual needs.

However, while consumers are interested in such products, they do not necessarily seek out such food and drink offerings at present, and perceptions around availability of such products is a main reason why.

This is highlighted as only 35% of global consumers think there are currently products on the market that meet their specific nutritional needs. This creates an opportunity to position new product development around growing the customized food and drink market.

When deciding which beverage types they would like to see personalized, consumers opted for juice. FMCG Gurus believes that this is because consumers associate juice with being healthy and containing real and authentic ingredients that offer nutrition, as well as being a category that is suitable for on-the-go consumption.

Other key beverage formats consumers would like to see within the personalized nutrition space are, high protein drinks (67%), bottled water (59%), and yogurt drinks (66%).

Although consumers would be interested in personalized beverage products there are still a number of barriers to why consumers would not be interested - one of the main issues being affordability.

FMCG Gurus research shows that of the consumers who stated they would not be interested in personalized beverages, 66% said they believe the products would be too expensive. This will be a major barrier in 2020 and beyond as consumers believe that the world is heading towards a major recession as a result of COVID-19 and as such are looking to stave money off their food and drink shopping habits.

Survey data comes from FMCG Gurus' The Growth of Personalized Nutrition in 2020 report.