The baby food market is highly sensitive to demographic and social shifts. And so in recent years, as Western birthrates decline and parents get older, manufacturers in the sector have been working hard to keep up. Amanda White takes a look at new product development on the baby food shelves.
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Birth rates and population trends have had a major impact on the baby foods market and its levels of new product development in recent years. Trends in the western world, such as declining birth rates, the trend towards older mothers and an increase in disposable income, have forced manufacturers to develop products that serve this changing environment. Consequently, products that offer a fair share of convenience to working mothers, and food that keeps the consumer in the market for longer, have been critical in the last few years.
Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD) highlights a total of 1021 new baby food product launches worldwide during 2001. These include products specifically manufactured for babies and toddlers aged under three years; wet and dry meals; baby drinks; and finger foods such as rusks, baby breadsticks and baby rice cakes. Baby drinks include ready-to-serve liquids as well as concentrates, to be diluted with water at home, and granulated drink products. Baby milk/formulae are excluded.
Ups and downs
After an increase of just over 60% between 1999 and 2000, global new product development in the baby food sector took a slight downward trend during 2001. The largest segment, baby meals, at first increased from around 200 new products in 1999 to 350 in 2000, then subsequently declined again by around 6% in 2001. In contrast, the significantly smaller finger foods segment dipped in 2000 and regained buoyancy during 2001, while drinks saw growing new product numbers during the whole period of review.
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By GlobalDataThe lack of inherent growth in the consumer base in some countries suggests that any expansion within the baby food and drink market cannot come from increasing market penetration generally. Rather, expansion must be derived through an increase in the average level of expenditure per baby, and through an extension of the time babies spend in the market before the consumption of children’s/adult food begins. Indeed, manufacturers have all adapted well to this phenomenon in recent years and focused on added value baby food as well as products that clearly intend to keep customers in the market for longer. The former is generally being addressed by organic and convenience-oriented products, whereas the latter is served through transfer and tie-over foods.
Wet wonders
The vast majority of contemporary baby meal launches have been in the wet segment, which is unsurprising considering the predominance of such products in terms of sales in some key markets. The largest number of those products is again made up by jarred varieties such as Sunval’s 15-strong Teletubbies range of Organic Baby Food in the UK. Available in 2002, varieties are packaged in 125g and 190g glass jars and are suitable for babies of four to eight months, with flavours including tender carrot and potato. Q.P.’s line of baby food in Japan is made from farm-produced ingredients and packaged in 70g jars; flavours include pumpkin and sweet potato puree and creamy cheese dessert.
Frozen sales sluggish
In terms of storage, ambient variants clearly dominate the category, whereas frozen varieties accounted for no new products during 2000 and only seven in 2001. A recent launch came in South Africa from Yum Nums, which developed seven deep frozen toddler meals. Introduced at the end of 2001, this bio-natural baby food is available in flavours that include Vegetable Risotto with Cheese & Broccoli, and Lentil and Vegetable Purée. Varieties are preservative- and additive-free, with no salt added. Also available are: Pasta Cartwheels with Cheese & Broccoli; Lamb Meatballs with Sweet & Sour Sauce with Pasta Rice; Spaghetti with Chicken Bolognaise; Macaroni Cheese; and Tasty Minced Beef Stew with Mixed Vegetables.
As with the frozen sector, chilled baby food is only taking a minor share of the category’s NPD.
Organic growth
Increasing concern about healthy eating has given a huge boost to sales and NPD within the organic baby food sector. The sector continues to benefit from the successive stream of food scare stories in the press and greater levels of consumer awareness on food safety and issues such as GM foods and the use of pesticides in farming. Organic baby food is a premium product, but when it comes to the well being of their children, parents are easily persuaded to dig even deeper into their pockets, despite the fact that they may not buy organic food for themselves. The sector is becoming increasingly mainstream.
Recent examples include:
- Only Organic’s Fruit Muesli Baby Food in New Zealand, an organic, ready-to-eat dessert made from fruit and muesli;
- Sunval’s 15-strong organic Teletubbies range (as highlighted earlier);
- Heinz Wattie’s seven new organic baby foods under the Earth’s Best brand in Australia.
Today, claims such as organic or natural appear to be almost the norm in some countries (for example, Germany); a situation which has led manufacturers to increasingly focus on added health features, as recent product launches show. One key claim in 2001 has been that of ‘reduced sugar or salt’, which provides parents with what they perceive to be a strong assurance that the product is good for their offspring. Giants such as Nestlé, Hipp and Heinz Gerber, among others, have all launched such products during the last twelve months. Probably the most significant launch in this area during 2001 came from Gerber in the US, which extended its Tender Harvest line of baby food with 33 organic and original recipes without any added sugar or starch.
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Convenience is king
The growing number of working mothers, as well as the fact that parents are generally getting older, has served to boost the demand for convenience products in the baby food category. Manufacturers are constantly introducing products that are designed to save time and make parents’ busy lives a little easier. This trend is most evident in the popularity of wet foods that, contrary to their dry counterparts, only require minimum preparation.
Microwaveability as such is not new to the baby foods category. What is interesting, however, are the new products that coming microwaveable packaging. Heinz, for instance, introduced British mothers to organic carrots packaged in a microwaveable plastic pot. Similarly, Gerber has launched a number of products in microwaveable glass jars across the globe.
The adult-oriented and tie-over food category segments fall into two broad groups by age: products for babies from the age of four months, suitable for weaning, and products for babies aged from seven months, which are lumpier in texture and encourage the baby to chew. Most of the new product development broadly focuses on these two categories, but there is also a clear trend towards products that are targeted at older babies and toddlers. For example, Nestlé launched two breakfast cereal products that are suitable for infants from 18 months under its Babimel and Babicao labels in Portugal; Heinz expanded its Toddler Cuisine meals in the US; and Hipp extended its heart-shaped, twin-compartment “growing-up” meals, which are targeted at the 10-15 months old group, into the UK market.
Increasing choice
Choice is a key factor in the baby meals sector, with a growing number of recipes available. Even if not geared at older infants, the market continues to see the introduction of baby food in recipes modelled on adult dishes, such as Materna’s Petits Plants de Croissance baby meals, which have been launched in France in Scandinavian salmon, Indian-style chicken, Cantonese rice and hot pot varieties.
Looking towards the future, Mintel expects jarred baby food to continue to account for the majority of new product launches. Organic products are likely to become the norm in an increasing number of countries, which will lead manufacturers to search for other means of differentiation. Products that reassure parents that the product is not only natural but also free from, for example, sugar or salt will be subject to further NPD.
More exciting, and even ethnic recipes as well as gourmet-super-premium lines are increasingly in the pipeline. Similarly, we are also likely to see more baby food that mimics well known adult dishes, as well as products that prolong the infant’s time in the baby food market, through the development of more toddler meals.
By Amanda White, Mintel
