Kerry’s interactive simulator helps industry understand consumer preferences

Photo © iStockphoto.com/dlewis33

Kerry (Beloit, WI) released an interactive consumer preference simulator that utilizes its proprietary consumer data to help the industry understand consumer preferences across 11 different functional benefits such as gut health, immune support, and weight management, and 85 different ingredients.

Kerry’s 2019 Proactive Health research explored key consumer groups and their functional health and ingredient preferences collected through a quantitative online research study. The goal was to understand U.S. consumer expectations of functional benefits and determine the importance of specific ingredients by functional benefits derived from food and beverages.

“Consumer attention to food and beverages with added functionality has never been higher than today, as they adapt to the current challenges of COVID-19,” said Soumya Nair, director of marketing insights for Kerry North America, in a press release. “They want to future-proof themselves from the short-term pandemic but also shield themselves and their families from any long-term health concerns. Sixty-nine percent of health-conscious U.S. adults said they are proactive with their health. Beyond weight management concerns, busy lifestyles have given rise to issues related with stress, energy, sleep, gut health, and more.”

Kerry’s research unlocks the critical associations consumers make between function ingredients and their benefits, says Nair. "For instance, specific ingredients such as ginger, apple cider vinegar, and probiotics are associated strongly with gut health, while coffee, green tea, green coffee bean, and ginger are perceived as functional ingredients for energy support,” Nair explains. “With the simulator, you can create products that are targeted to specific demographic groups, using ingredients that strongly connote a specific functional benefit for the consumer.”

The simulator allows users to choose a functional benefit and by gender and/or age, determine the top 10 ingredients preferred by consumers of that demographic group. Experience the simulator here.