Mintel in the Media – This week’s highlights

Mintel in the Media is a weekly review, bringing together a selection of the most high profile press stories showcasing Mintel’s data and analysis from around the world. Highlights from the past week include:

UK & IRELAND

The Drinks Business: Tequila embraces bling. Mintel’s Jonny Forsyth investigates the astonishing rise of ultra-premium Tequila in the US, and how P. Diddy threatens to turn it into the new Scotch.

The Voice: A Nation Of Chocoholics. According to a recent report by market researchers, Mintel, nearly 16 per cent of Brits – equating to around eight million people – eat chocolate every day.

Mail On Sunday: Revealed: The invisible bugs that lurk on your hands – even AFTER you’ve washed them. Women adopt better hygiene habits with almost three quarters claiming thorough hand washing, according to market analysts Mintel.

The Sun: Shops price drops: war at tills. John Mercer, of analysts Mintel said, ‘This round of price cuts is the biggest yet. Shoppers are likely to emerge as the only winners.’

The Grocer: Putting free-from into puds. The growing threat from own-label copycats not-withstanding, Pudology looks as though it’s hit the sweet spot timing-wise given the increasing popularity of free-from – valued at £519 million in 2012, the category is growing 15.5% a year [Mintel] – and the current dearth of high quality dessert options on supermarket shelves.

Innovations in Food Technology: Cutting sodium levels in a consumer conscious way. While the need to cut sodium consumption has been highlighted in studies by health organisations across the world, the development of appropriate and effective strategies remains complicated and progress has been slow. According to Mintel only 1% of the new meat and poultry products launched in Europe in 2013 did claim the reduction of sodium.

Morning Advertiser: Make sure your world cup runneth over. The market researcher Mintel suggests that 75% of the adult UK population will watch this year’s tournament, and that 20% of those who did so in 2010 watched games in a pub.

Business Life (British Airways): 98.5% of mobile gamers refuse to spend money on their phones to ‘get ahead’ in games

Speciality Food Magazine: Local Food Worth £5.7 Billion, Says MP. The locally-produced food sector is valuable and it’s growing. The market research company Mintel have done some research into the subject, which put estimated sales of locally-sourced foods at around £5.7 billion.

Marketing: Centre Stage. ‘If it’s a good summer, then it should be good for retailers,’ says Mintel’s retail analyst John Mercer. ‘We currently have good macroeconomic conditions. GDP forecasts have been raised, the housing market is booming and unemployment is falling, which is all pushing up consumer confidence.’

Psychologies: The great hair debate. According to market researchers Mintel, she’s not alone in her quest for hair-free skin. There are very few women who don’t pluck, wax, thread shave or laser an area of body hair, with more than 8 in 10 women regularly removing hair from armpits and legs.

Bike Biz: Bickerton hands over Bicycle Association presidency. What we do know from the import stats, is that cycle sales have continued to be strong again this year, with imports running at about the same level as the last few years, at three and half million bikes. I noticed that Mintel have just published a report indicating sales in 2013 were valued at £745m.

Cosmetics Business: Hello Sunshine! With scientists forecasting that this summer could be the hottest on record in the UK, and steady growth in holiday sales over the next five years predicted by Mintel, things are looking rosy for the sun protection market.

The Marketer: Food and Drink retailing. The volume of information and terminology bandied about around food and drink has left consumers unsure of how healthy their choices really are, says Mintel head of UK food, drink and foodservice research Kiti Soininen. “Supermarket shelves are packed with food labelled as ‘light’, ‘diet’, ‘low calorie’ or ‘low fat’, yet for the majority of people this is a minefield.” Consumers, she adds, prefer more tangible terms such as “low fat” to “diet” and “light”.

Stylist.co.uk: SIX OF THE BEST NEW MASCARAS. While we are fastidiously loyal to our favourite moisturiser or fragrance, the latest figures from market researchers Mintel show 47% of us will drop our mascara for a new one faster than we can say, “I want what she’s having” because we’re so hell-bent on creating perfect lashes.

Interactive Investor: Saga and Shoe Zone announce IPOs. The company has 554 stores and was considered to be “the only specialist value retailer among the top 10 footwear retailers in 2012” in a Mintel survey, the company said.

Financial Times: An appetite for the greater good. Some of Kind’s success can be chalked up to good timing. Americans’ appetite for healthier food has upended the snack-bar market, with sales of so-called nutrition bars rising 34 per cent to $2.2bn last year, according to Mintel.

British Baker: Hundreds log on to Bakery Market Report webinar. Key speakers on the webinar included David Smart, MD of Greenhalgh’s, Mike Holling, executive director of the Craft Bakers’ Association, Chris Brockman of research company Mintel; and Martyn Leek, editor of British Baker.

US

Bloomberg Businessweek: Chocolate is sweet for BBX Capital investors. Nationwide, chocolate sales have increased 24 percent from 2008 to 2013, according to a report by Mintel, a marketing research firm in Chicago.

Advertising Age: Planters gives Mr. Peanut new mission: flavored nuts. Nuts and trail mix sales growth outpaced all other snack segments last year, although potato chips is still the biggest category, with sales of $7.6 billion, according to Mintel. Mintel forecasts that nuts and trail mixes will accelerate to 61% growth in the next five years.

Yahoo! Finance: Rate survey: Credit card APRs linger at 15 percent. The average interest-free period on promotional balance transfer offers mailed directly to consumers’ homes, for example, fell slightly last month, according to an analysis of Mintel data by the financial services firm Credit Suisse.

Sun Sentinel: Chocolate is sweet for BBX Capital investors. “Chocolate is doing very well,” said Mintel analyst Marcia Mogelonsky. “Most people love chocolate. Have you met anyone who doesn’t like chocolate?”

Consumer Goods Technology: 5 social media trends that might surprise you. After conducting high-level research into the into the strategies employed by Fortune 500 companies across the United States, Mintel’s social media analysts Gabi Lieberman and Lizz Martinez singled out the top five trends in online consumer marketplace behavior this quarter.

Beauty Packaging: New director of business development at Mintel. Mintel Beauty and Personal Care has announced that Mikel Sacher has joined its team as Director of Business Development and Accounts.

Creditcards.com: Rate survey: Credit card APRs linger at 15 percent. According to new data from the market research firm Mintel Comperemedia, Chase isn’t the only card issuer experimenting with shorter promotional offers.

Happi Magazine: Are these the scents of things to come. Recent data from Mintel show that the traditional formats of eau de toilette and eau de parfum are commonly used in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Happi Magazine: Color by numbers. In contrast, despite the smaller size, the temporary and highlights/touch-ups/bleach segments have posted solid gains between 2011 and 2013, noted Mintel, as temporary color and root touch-ups have attracted a more mature user due to easy and temporary solutions for covering gray hair, helping to drive segment growth

Gourmet Retailer: Here’s to your health. A growing number of consumers – 35 percent – are opting for dark chocolate, which still trails milk chocolate, the top choice amongst 51 percent of adults, according to Mintel.

Grocery Headquarters: Watch your mouth. According to Chicago-based Mintel’s 2013 Oral Care report, toothpastes that offer benefits such as cavity prevention, enamel protection and whitening, continue to drive sales for the segment.

Brazil

Meio & Mensagem: Da atracao a conversao. Segundo o relatorio da Mintel Habitos de Gastos do Consumidor, quase 80% dos consumidores sao atraidos por desconto e 84% dizem que se sentem bem sabendo que gastaram menos do que outras pessoas.

Doce Revista: Goleada nas Gondolas. “Esse evento internacional ja gerou um volume maior de lancamentos no mercado brasileiro, pois alem da Garoto, patrocinadora oficial, outras empresas do setor de candies estao bancando apostas no tema do campeonato”, observa Emma Cliford, analista da area de alimentos da consultoria Mintel.

Doce Revista: De Boca cheia. Os primeiros resultados da ofensiva de todo um conjunto de medidas – inclusas essas da PepsiCo – para mudar o segmento de snacks transparecem no estudo Salgadinhos Brasil, da consultoria Mintel.

ABRAS: Microsoft: Ervilha e a proteina da vez. O segmento de produtos sem glúten hoje movimenta entre US$ 500 milhões e US$ 10,5 bilhões em vendas ao ano. “A maior parte do crescimento frequentemente se dá nos primeiros momentos”, diz o analista Chris Brockman, da Mintel.

EMEA

Food & Drink Europe: Warburtons guns for UK gluten-free supremacy. Mintel data shows that between 2012 and 2013 the gluten and wheat-free market grew by 9.4%. Meanwhile 13% of UK consumers bought into the gluten-free category in 2013 – up from 8% in 2012.

Food Navigator-usa.com: FoodNavigator-USA Gluten-free Form Highlights: ‘Fad dieters are not buying gluten-free products – they are just avoiding bread’. While Mintel pegs the US gluten-free retail market at a whopping $10.5bn in 2013, that’s because it includes anything with a gluten-free

Beverage Daily: ‘They get sugary sweet or water!’: ZEO shakes up adult soft drinks. 82% of soft drinks in bars and restaurants are consumed by adults, Forson said, but he added that there is a current ‘challenge around choice’, with Mintel SDR 2013 data showing that 41% of soft drink consumers in these venues aren’t happy with the options available.

FinanzNachrichten.de: Top Hispanic Market Execs Talk ‘Total Market’ In HISPANIC MARKET OVERVIEW 2014. “The U.S. Hispanic market has evolved at lightning speed, and having the knowledge and insights about where the Hispanic market truly is today is imperative for any marketer that truly seeks to capitalize on the most influential consumer group in North America,” says Jacobson, who has served as a multicultural analyst at Mintel and as a senior editor at Hispanic Market Weekly.

APAC

hbey.ibien.com: ADM will launch a customized fiber protein energy bars. Renowned market research firm Mintel survey shows that 58% of Consumers eating energy bars just to fill their stomachs, 34% of consumers said that eating energy bars to save time.

360GuanXi.com: Stevia subvert traditional markets. According to market research firm Mintel and Leatherhead Food Research company released a new report, vegetable sweetener stevia has quietly gained the favor of consumers, and those who are subverting the traditional sweetener Sort mature in the market.

Zee News: The pros and cons of fancy lingerie. According to global market research group Mintel, in 2012-2013 more than two-fifths of consumers bought their lingerie online, with women between 25 to 32 forming the largest number of global lingerie consumers.

DailyFT: Tea time again in London as Unilever brews up a drinks revival. Though 65% of Britons aged 25 to 34 drink tea at least once a day, according to research firm Mintel Group, that is lower than the 72% of those above 55 who do.