We’re looking back at some of our favorite discoveries of 2019 in a series of posts covering each of the sectors we serve. In this post, we look at the health and wellness sector, with a focus on human dietary supplements. This is a constantly changing sector that reflects new health challenges and solutions in… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Among the industries we serve, the pet products segment ranks as one of the most dynamic. New products and companies rise and fall on a regular basis, and consumers show themselves willing to at least trial new products frequently. In this ever-changing marketplace, however, pet food and products steadily mirror trends in human food toward… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Consumers, first and foremost, want to know that their supplements work and do what they claim to do through felt, improved health and validated 3rd-party clinical data. Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
If you’re here, there’s a good chance you were at SupplySide West 2019 and you attended Tracy’s talk, “What Consumers Want in a Supplement Brand.” Firstly, thank you for attending! We hope it was a good use of your time in Vegas, where you otherwise could have been making a serendipitous connection or donning a… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Although the food industry has historically been dominated by entrenched major brands, startups and venture capital have begun to move aggressively into food and beverage and agriculture, rightly perceiving the industry to be both exciting and profitable. High-profile food startups like KRAVE and Blue Bottle Coffee have found success bringing an entrepreneurial, tech-centric ethos to food and… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Perhaps no label has more power over the health-focused consumer than that of “superfood.” A superfood is a whole food with uniquely valuable nutrition benefits. One food after another has been labeled a superfood, from blueberries to açai berries to kale, resulting in booming sales. A study identified newly-popularized superfoods as one of the top 10 food… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
NPR’s food blog The Salt recently reported on a pop-up restaurant in Washington, D.C., serving a menu devoted to insects. Sponsored by an exterminator and called the “Pestaurant,” the eatery features grasshoppers, crickets, mealworms, and ants. As it happens, we talked last year about whether eating bugs could be one of several new food trends,… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
I ’m no dog food thief, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find my name on a “Beware These Up-to-no-Goodniks” list shared among St. Louis pet stores. On my way home from work and on the weekends, I go to Petco and PetSmart and Walmart and Target and farm & feed stores and independent retailers… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Food companies confront no more sensitive topic today than the debates over genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Consumers are deeply concerned, asking questions like “What are GMOs doing to our food supply,” “Are they dangerous,” and, whether they are or not, “Should they be labeled?.” Many of us have strong opinions about these questions, and even… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
We Do Have Time for Faster Survey Results There’s a lot of waiting around in consumer research. Days go by waiting on folks to take your survey. It could take a week for focus group transcripts to arrive. You most likely have no time for that. The CEO definitely has no time for that. In… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Every consumer trend has a life cycle, and food trends are no exception. Many observers have recently proclaimed that cupcakes’ time is up. Is that true? And what does the answer mean for manufacturers and retailers of similar products? A combination of influential bakeries and a high-profile cameo in 2000 on Sex and the City… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Many market research projects begin with a simple request: “Can we get a number on that?” Though few of us have advanced degrees in math, marketers are used to dealing with a lot of numbers. We set numeric goals, evaluate sales figures, review market research data, and report on metrics. We’re not accountants, but we… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Last year, my (former) physician sent me from his office with a prescription for “eat more bran.” Bran didn’t help. Bran, it turns out, was one of the reasons I had to see the doctor in the first place. As I would learn through self-diagnosis a few weeks later, I have (and have had for… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Activity trackers have recently been making news with their data collection and aggregation capabilities—most notably, the heatmaps that fitness-tracking app Strava generated and published based on user data from around the world. While the conversation has largely been focused on tracking of military personnel and national security implications, the story has three key components that… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
If I remember correctly, the first book I was assigned to read in high school is The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Arguably a relatively inaccessible piece of literature to expect a 14-year-old to rightly apply to life, it is one that I can now, years later, recognize as applicable to the workplace, particularly… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>