Ladies First

LIZ PARKS

As fortified beverage introductions continue to flood the marketplace, their functional claims are becoming more targeted.

Whether they're designed to promote clearer skin, for weight control, to build stronger bones or to curb the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome or morning sickness, many of these juices, waters, energy drinks and teas are focusing on the unique health and wellness needs of women.

The trend is expected to escalate as more women come to understand the value of consuming nutritionally enhanced beverages. Research shows that women are already more responsive than men to products touting such benefits.

Out of 2,000 adult consumers surveyed in September by Chicago-based Mintel International Group, 25% had purchased a functional or “good-for-you” food or beverage during the previous three months. Twenty percent of female respondents made at least one such purchase, compared with 17% of men.

While that may seem like a small gap, “it's statistically significant,” said David Morris, a market research analyst at Mintel. “Women are still the primary shoppers, and they are looking for foods and beverages that are healthy for their families and themselves.”

At Jungle Jim's, a 280,000-square-foot supermarket in Fairfield, Ohio, natural food and beverage buyer Jill Denton noted that women are enthusiastically buying natural beverages with nutraceutical benefits and ingredients specifically formulated to meet their unique health needs.

“Women are caregivers,” said Denton. “They know they have to be the ones to stay strong to take care of families. It is women who are buying the enhanced spring waters. They are the ones shopping for antioxidant-enriched juices and teas.”

Bob Richardson, beverage category manager for Boulder, Colo.-based Wild Oats Markets, noted that women especially “are much more informed today [than men] about the benefits of natural juices.”

Antioxidant-rich pomegranates, cranberries and goji berries are just a few ingredients that Wild Oats customers are seeking, he said.

Female consumers are also responding well to beverages that contain calcium, vitamin D, folic acid, ginger, fiber, soy and flax, according to Morris.

“Women are regarded as generally the first to try products with nutritional benefits,” he said. “They respond very positively to ingredients that have been shown to reduce the risks of cholesterol or heart disease, the leading cause of death among American women.”

Russ Martin, category manager for Spokane, Wash.-based Yoke's Fresh Markets, said that although he does not have sales data to support the fact that women are driving sales of healthier beverages, “my gut feeling is that women prefer such beverages over men. In our society, women are on the vanguard of buying products that are good for you. That's what they do for themselves and their families.”

Yoke's is expanding its assortment of fortified and New Age healthy beverages by adding in items like Reed's Ginger Brew, Hansen's Natural Green Tea Soda, Snapple's Elements, SoBe, Glaceau Vitamin Water and other functional beverages. Yoke's will merchandise these beverages in both its carbonated beverage aisles and its natural food departments.

Currently, the greatest variety of beverages specifically formulated to meet women's unique health needs can be found in the natural bagged tea category, said Denton of Jungle Jim's.

Republic of Tea's Be Well line of functional organic rooibos-based blends, which include Get A Grip Tea For PMS/Menopause, Get Lost Herb Tea for Weight Control and Get Gorgeous Herb Tea for Clear Skin, are selling exceptionally well, said Denton. Also popular are Yogi Tea's Women's Healing Formula and Traditional Medicinal teas; both lines are formulated specifically for women. All of these teas are high in antioxidants.

Jungle Jim's is also seeing brisk sales of Reed's Ginger Brew, a soda enriched with ginger that helps aid digestion, relieves nausea in the early months of pregnancy and relieves menstrual cramps. Denton buys Ginger Brew both for herself and for her 80-year-old father, who loves, she said, “how it settles his stomach.”

Jungle Jim's merchandises all-natural-ingredient enhanced teas, juices and waters in its approximately 7,000-square-foot natural food department. About 25% of its space is dedicated to beverages.

Merchandising units in the retailer's 10,000-square-foot beverage section display Vitamin Water, IZZE, SoBe and Enviga, which claims to have calorie-burning properties.

“Because each can of Enviga contains only 5 calories, you end up burning more than you consume,” according to information found on the Enviga website. “So for the first time you can actually drink negative.”

Beverages formulated for women typically “sell great, because women know these beverages are good for their bodies,” said Denton. “You have to drink something every day that is high in antioxidants, and natural-ingredient teas meet that need. Women are also buying 100% organic juices, nutrient-enhanced waters and other types of enhanced teas, but these are for their families as well as for themselves.”

Jungle Jim's promotes natural-ingredient brands frequently and also does a lot of product demonstrations and sampling, said Denton.

Lund Food Holdings, Edina, Minn., which operates Lunds and Byerly's supermarkets in the Minneapolis market, has actually created a subsidiary, Sola Squeeze, that is now introducing a line of healthy beverages under the brand name Sola. To manage the Sola brand, Lund partnered with Blackwatch, a Minneapolis-based marketing consulting firm.

Another new brand that might appeal to women is airforce Nutrisodas. These nutrient-enriched carbonated beverages contain no sugar, caffeine, sodium or aspartame.

Nutrisoda's tangerine-lime Immune drink is promoted as an immune system booster, while its pomegranate and blackberry-flavored Radiant is said to make skin look healthier.

The ready-to-drink beverages are carried in some Super Target locations, as well as in Publix, Cub Foods, Walbaum's, A&P's Food Emporium and Stop & Shop stores. They will soon be merchandised in West Coast retail locations as well.

Chris Reed, founder and chief executive officer of El Segundo, Calif.-based Reed's Inc., which brews all-natural soft drinks, said his company's Ginger Brew is targeted toward pregnant women and women who experience menstrual cramps. Studies have found, he noted, that high enough quantities of ginger can alleviate the discomforts of morning sickness, PMS and arthritis.

Today's well-educated consumers can sometimes be skeptical about health benefit claims, particularly since in the past some products touting health and wellness ingredients haven't always delivered on their promises. The consensus of informed sources today is that if a product makes a health claim, it has to deliver the benefits.

“Otherwise, people will try the products, but they won't go back and buy them again,” said Gary Hemphill, managing director, The Beverage Marketing Corp., New York, a supplier of information and consulting services to the beverage industry.

For products that have proved themselves, said Richardson — citing such beverages as Wild Oats pomegranate juice and Knudsen organic cranberry pomegranate juice — sales will continue to increase as awareness of the natural health benefits of these products grows.

“Women, like all consumers,” he said, “want a great beverage that will add value to their daily routine.”

BEVERAGE WATCH

Sales of bottled water, beer, wine and refrigerated juices and drinks grew across food, drug and mass channels.