Mintel in the Media – this week’s highlights – July 15th 2013

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:

US:

Time Magazine: Why Golden Corral’s gross-out video won’t scare off customers. “In general, we see food scares — pink slime, tainted scallions and other debacles — don’t have many long-term effects on chain restaurant traffic,” says Kathy Hayden, a food service analyst at market research firm Mintel. “There is always a leap of faith in putting food preparation in other peoples’ hands, and it’s a leap most of us take every day,” Hayden says. Usually, we adopt a sort of out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality, but Reddit, YouTube and the like can make that hard when the “ewww” moments get put on display. “Lately, social media has been reminding us of the occasional pitfalls of doing so,” Hayden says.

The New York Times: Americans tastes branch out, and food makers follow. From 2010 to 2012, sales of ethnic foods rose 4.5 percent, to $8.7 billion. The Mintel Group, a market research firm, estimates that between 2012 and 2017 sales of ethnic foods in grocery stores will grow more than 20 percent. Mintel predicts Middle Eastern and Mediterranean foods will increase the most in that time in terms of dollar sales.

The Wall Street Journal: Panko tries to find a place in every pantry. Mentions of panko on restaurant menus are up about 22% since 2010, says Kathy Hayden, food service analyst for Mintel, a market-research company.

MarketWatch: The yellow commodity hotter than gold. The condiment raked in U.S. sales of $508 million in 2012 – an 11% jump since 2007, according to Mintel, a market researcher.

Advertising Age: Chickpeas and Kale and Goat, Oh My! Trends From the Fancy Food Show. It was a leading trend going into the show, with 38% of members working on gluten-free products this year, according to research by Mintel and show host the Specialty Food Association.

Yahoo! Finance: How to get the most from rewards credit cards. Keep an eye out for opportunities to double or even triple your rewards earnings power. Many issuers offer an increased cash-back return rate every quarter in certain categories, typically ones that go with the season, says Lisa Hronek, senior analyst at Mintel Comperemedia. For example, issuers will bump up the rate to 5 percent on summer gas purchases because it’s peak driving season. Other issuers will reward travel purchases more during the winter holidays. Sometimes you will need to enroll in these quarterly cash-back specials, so be on the lookout for special mailings or online alerts to register, Hronek says.

Salon Magazine: Dog owners are now pet parents. And finally, a survey by the research firm Mintel found that almost half of those who participated said that their pets are better for their social lives than being on Facebook or Twitter. Also, according to the survey, almost one out of five Millenials who own a dog or cat have a pet-related app on their smartphones.

Portland Business Journal: Energy drinks make you jittery? Portland neurosurgeon has an answer. In 2011, sales of energy drink and shots hit $8.1 billion, a 16 percent jump from 2010, according to Mintel, which does food and drink research.

American Banker: Downfall of subprime cards spawns opportunity. In the first quarter of this year, credit card issuers sent out nearly just 21 million direct mailings for cards that carried fees and offered no rewards, down from nearly 300 million in the first quarter of 2007, according to data from Mintel Comperemedia. By the first quarter of this year, specialized lenders Credit One, First Premier Bank, Continental Finance and Merrick Bank were the only companies using direct mail to market credit cards with fees and no rewards, according to Andrew Davidson, senior vice president at Mintel Comperemedia. Larger firms such as Capital One Financial (COF) were sitting on the sidelines.

Creditcards.com: Rate survey: Credit card interest rates remain flat. Issuers have stepped up marketing efforts considerably over the past several months, according to the market research firm Mintel Comperemedia. For example, last month issuers mailed 373 million new offers to consumers’ homes.

Beauty Store Business Magazine: The truth about the African-American beauty market. There is also rich history in it that helps propel it and give insight into its future—particularly, as a U.S. market that is expected to reach about $684 million in 2012, according to Mintel Oxygen research.

MediaPost Marketing Daily: Boom! Consumers stocking up on fireworks. Meanwhile, Mintel says 29% of Americans attended a Fourth of July celebration within the past two years, and that 18% made a special dish to bring with them. That makes it a bigger cookout event than Memorial Day (with 28% attending an event, or Labor Day, at 14%.) And for Fourth of July events, some 23% bought a special food purchase, while 19% bought some kind of alcoholic beverage.

MSN Money: Alt-fuel cars hit America’s on-ramp. Although marketing firm Mintel says alt-fuel vehicle sales grew more than 70% last year and it expects hybrid and electric car sales alone to increase 14% in 2013, buyers’ fears are still stifling sales.

UK:

Bloomberg: Ocado Distribution Costs Hurt Online Grocer Growth. Richard Perks, director of retail research at Mintel, examines results from internet-only grocer Ocado as the company reported a wider first-half loss than expected on distribution costs. He speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “On The Move.”

The Daily Telegraph: Hard chimes as ice cream sales hit all-time low. Peter Ayton, Mintel consumer analyst, told the Daily Telegraph that more people were choosing to spending their money on the occasional, more expensive tub of Ben & Jerry’s or Haagen Dazs. Sales of “sticks” such as lollies, Cornettos or 99 Flakes have fallen by nearly a third in the past three years.

The Daily Telegraph: Boom in home cooking as more families make from scratch. Separately, market research specialist Mintel said the baking phenomenon triggered by Mary Berry and the Great British Bake Off was gathering momentum.

The Daily Telegraph:  Sainsbury’s vows change as it launches mobile phone service . Mintel claims the 45-to-54 year-old age group is largely untapped and 38 per cent have not upgraded their handsets because of price. Sainsbury’s average customer is aged 51.

The Daily Telegraph: Mencyclopaedia: Derek Rose. This is because smalls are big business: in Britain men spend around £800 million a year on (their own) underwear, according to Mintel.

The Independent: Will we carry on camping? Despite the economic downturn, holidays under canvas are not booming. “You might have expected camping to do better than it did, given the economic context,” said John Worthington, a leisure analyst who conducted the research for Mintel. He blamed the wet weather, too: “It’s just so hard to weatherproof a camping holiday.”

The Independent:  Sainsbury’s launches mobile network in partnership with Vodafone. According to The Telegraph market analysts Mintel claim that the 45 to 54 demographic is “largely untapped” and that 38% of customers have not upgrade their handset due to price. It is this market that Sainsbury’s will hope to target.

The Times: Hitching a ride on the biggest boom since the invention of wheel. In London alone there were 35% more cycle journeys made last year than in 2009 , an more than a fifth of all adults in the UK cycle more than 3 times per week, according to the Mintel Cycle Survey conducted in February.

The Guardian. Tesco hires farmers’ voice to restore trust lost in horsemeat scandal. Alex Beckett, senior food analyst at Mintel, said: “That food should not be harmful should be one of the most basic of consumer expectations, yet only half of adults feel the UK food industry provides food that is safe to eat, signalling a widespread breakdown of trust in the agri-food chain, and suggesting the need for more active communications and greater transparency towards consumers.”

The Daily Mail: Return of the DIY kitchen: More people are now cooking from scratch as a result of the horse meat scandal and Great British Bake Off. Separate market research from Mintel indicates fans of the Great British Bake Off and other baking shows are attempting to replicate the efforts of contestants in their own kitchens, the report said, contributing to the boom in home cooking.

Men’s Health:  The pulse. Walking meetings.  Mintel trend observation.

Elle mag: What the future means for your face. “We’re seeing an increase in make-up claiming to last 24 hours” says Vivienne Rudd, Director of Insight, Beauty and Personal Care at market analysts Mintel.

Metro: Sales of budget food hit record.  ‘Consumers carry their middle and upper-class tastes and experiences with them,’ said David Jago of market research firm Mintel.

Metro: The social media app that is driving drinkers back to the pub. On average, 18 pubs close every week in Britain – and young people switching to domestic drinking is one of the causes. According to market research firm Mintel, 38 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds say they and their friends increasingly drink at home instead of going out, while 54 per cent drink at home to save money before going out. That’s where Mike Gamaroff comes in.

The Grocer: Budget product launches outstrip premium as shoppers seek value. A study by Mintel has found that product launches in the economy range overtook premium product launches in the UK in 2012.

Daily Star: Right off our food. Alex Beckett, from Mintel, which conducted the poll, said: “The food industry looks set to face much work to regain consumer trust.

Dairy Industries International: Sainsbury’s vows change as it launches mobile phone service. Mintel claims the 45-to-54 year-old age group is largely untapped and 38 per cent have not upgraded their handsets because of price. Sainsbury’s average customer is aged 51.

EMEA

Le Figaro (France): En attendant le royal baby. Richard Cope, directeur des tendances chez Mintek, estime que “la naissance du bebe devrait renforcer le sentiment de fierte’ nationale.

Ndr.de (Germany): Grobbritannien: warten auf das konigskind. Broadcast: interview to Richard Cope on the royal baby and economic opportunities.

LSA (France): La bataille de l’e-commerce alimentaire britannique se durcit. Soit une proportion de ventes en ligne similaire a celles enregistrees par Tesco (4,8%), Asda (4,4%), et Sainsbury’s (4,3%), selon Mintel.

Food & Drink Europe: Economy beats premium for first time in UK food launches. Food and drink product launches emphasising value for money have outpaced those featuring premium claims for the first time in the UK, finds new research from Mintel.

APAC

China News: 国内葡萄酒消费最大阻碍:假冒大行其道 真伪难辨. Mintel analyst Matthew Crabbe said: “Consumers lack of ability to appreciate wine, but the wine as they show off their wealth, luxury, this fake wine market in China provides a breeding ground for the spread of Many consumers believe that the is good, such as Lafite, its astronomical price and as a symbol of luxury wide social identity, just to meet the Chinese “nouveaux riches” psychological needs

Taipei Times: Danone cuts PRC formula prices by 20%. Sales of baby formula in China grew 29 percent to 95.2 billion yuan last year, more than four times the size of the US market, according to industry analyst Mintel Group.

Yahoo! Finance (Singapore): Ocado Distribution Costs Hurt Online Grocer Growth. Richard Perks, director of retail research at Mintel, examines results from internet-only grocer Ocado as the company reported a wider first-half loss than expected on distribution costs. He speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “On The Move.”

Yahoo! Finance (Australia): The yellow commodity hotter than gold. Put it all together and mustard equals money: The condiment raked in U.S. sales of $508 million in 2012 – an 11% jump since 2007, according to Mintel, a market researcher.

Yahoo! Lifestyle – Australian Women’s Health: Get a flat stomach: week-long eating plan.  We have a complex relationship with it, and a recent study of 2011 women by UK market research company Mintel found 69 per cent were most concerned about their “muffin top” over any other body part.

Australian Financial Review (AFR): Designer men’s fragrances seek global cachet. The Chinese prestige men’s fragrance market has jumped 20 per cent in the past three years, reports market research firm Mintel, thanks to the impact of Japanese and Korean television shows and fashions on younger Chinese males.

Australian Food News: Launches of ‘economy’ foods and drinks growing globally. The number of ‘economy’ food and drinks products launched in the UK has outstripped the number of ‘premium’ launches for the first time in 2012, according to new findings from market research organisation Mintel.

Men’s Health (Malaysia): Alternative Fuels. We’re guzzling energy drinks and shots at record rates but feeling more lethargic than ever. Sales of these products have more than doubled in the past 5 years, with 35% of men aged 18 to 24 drinking them regularly, a new Mintel survey reveals.

Food and Bev Asia: Just half of Brits trust the food industry to provide safe food to eat. Six months on from the horse meat scandal, British consumers remain highly sceptical about the efficiency of the British food industry. Indeed, new research from Mintel reveals a startling lack of confidence among British consumers in the UK food industry’s ability to provide food that is safe to eat.

糖酒产业网: 中国方便面市场增长放缓 产品创新是开拓市场的关键. 英敏特(Mintel)最近推出的中国方便面行业研究报告中发现,方便面已然变成日常食品,在接受调查的消费者中,有近半(47%)的人至少一周购买一次方便面。不过方便面市场增长却呈现下降趋势,如果想吸引中国消费者增加在方便面上的花费,

BRAZIL:

Meio & Mensagem: Por uma relação menos ordinária. Opina Richard Cope, diretor de tendências da consultoria Mintel, que apontou também os riscos aos quais as marcas estão sujeitas. “Certamente há a possibilidade de os consumidores boicotarem empresas que mantiverem relações não transparentes com o Estado”.

Meio & Mensagem: O Desafio da Maturidade. Análise do banco de dados de novos produtos da Mintel mostra que dentre todos os produtos lançados no Brasil no ano de 2012, 23,5% apresentaram alguma promessa ética ou A ecológica.

Food Ingredients Brazil: Determinação para reduzir sódio e açúcar nos alimentos exige adaptações na indústria. Segundo pesquisa da Mintel, empresa inglesa especializada em inteligência de consumo e produto, 66% dos brasileiros dizem que ingerem frutas e vegetais diariamente e 22% afirmam que seguem uma dieta de baixo teor de gordura.