1 “Her health” has spawned a food market of hundreds of billions
1.1 Awakening of “Her Consciousness”
Statistics show that the number of female consumers in China between the ages of 20 and 60 reaches 530 million. It is these 530 million women who have become the most powerful consumer and led the consumer wave. With the awakening of female consciousness, independence, smart and capability have become the three major labels of women in the new era.
“Her economy” covers her health, her sports, her entertainment, her learning, and other fields, and the market is already ten trillion. As an important part of it, the “her health” market is expanding with the escalating health needs of women in the new era, and it is not only satisfied with the past “not sick”. The demand for “her health” under the consumption upgrade is moving towards more refined and diversified development.
In the field of food and beverages, more and more women hope to “eat beauty” and “drink health”, pursuing health from the inside out.
1.2 New food and beverage needs of women in the new era
According to calculations from Mob Research Institute’s model data, women’s health food will exceed 200 billion yuan in 2020. And this 100 billion women’s health food market mainly comes from three major needs.
First of all, the demand for nutrients.
More than 60% of women believe that adding specific ingredients to food and beverages can achieve the effect of improving health through dietary supplements. For example, according to sales data such as Tmall, food, and beverages containing probiotics, chia seeds, collagen, and other ingredients are most favored by female consumers. These ingredients can help women maintain smooth intestines, slimming, and whitening. There is also the need for special nutrients during the female physiological period and gestation period.
Second, satisfy women’s emotional demands.
Most women who are “workers” hope to eat food and beverages that can relieve anxiety and relieve stress. For example, eat some functional gummies and jelly sodas during working hours to replenish energy while releasing work pressure.
In addition, young women in the new era have a particularly notable feature, and their desire to share is particularly strong. They also hope that the packaging design of this food and beverages will be more attractive and functional so that they can be shared with friends around them.
Third, the demand for multiple product packaging.
Product packaging design is an aspect that needs attention in food and beverage product innovation. High-quality packaging is just a stepping stone, and female consumers may also need to understand the raw materials and origin, environmental protection, style, and other aspects of the product. For example, natural means health, and it is easier to attract female consumers if food and beverages with natural formulas are marked on the packaging design.
Based on women’s three major demands for healthy food, several new trends in healthy food and beverages have been born. First, the consumer population is refined，and targeted users are accurately positioned. Second, the ingredient functions are diversified, and the single function develops toward multiple functions. Third, the product packaging has a high-value appearance, caters to women’s aesthetics, and has a sharing attribute. Let’s talk about these major trends in detail below.
2 Refinement: precise positioning of target users
Although women’s life spans only a few decades, they have completed many changes in their identities. From a baby girl who fell to the ground, she grew up to be a young girl, then got married and had children to become a wife and mother. In the life trajectory of women, different ages have different health needs.
Among them, the three most significant periods are the physiological period, the gestation period, and menopause. More and more entrepreneurs are focusing on women in these three periods and launching products that meet their physiological needs.
For health problems such as loss of nutrition, dysmenorrhea, body cold, and mood swings for women in their menstrual period, some products that relieve dysmenorrhea, warm type, and replenish the body and warm the palace are deeply favored by women.
Nestlé’s innovative achievements in the field of food and beverage are obvious to all around the world, and Nestlé has set up an incubator to seek new business blank areas. In the field of “her health”, Nestlé Incubator and Totole jointly created the “Xingshan” healthy soup brand for women’s menstrual period. “Xingshan” has successively launched bird’s nest black ginger collagen thick soup, ginseng wolfberry thick chicken soup, cordyceps militaris thick chicken soup, collagen red date thick chicken soup, and other products to provide consumers with rich and diverse nutritional choices.
In particular, the “Bird’s Nest Black Ginger Collagen Soup” incorporates the essence of black ginger mother, collagen, bird’s nest, the four things of the warm palace, and the three treasures of menstruation into the medicated chicken soup. It not only promotes metabolism and relieves pain, but also escorts in the late menstrual period. The collagen and bird’s nest in the ingredients are the golden window to seize the beauty and beauty of the menstrual period. The three-pronged approach of fitness, warm palace, and beauty, allows women to take care of them in one step.
In the gestation period, women’s health is even more concerned, and it also gives entrepreneurs some opportunities for innovation. For example, Jane Eyre has developed a 40-week yogurt specifically for pregnant mothers. This yogurt is said to help pregnant mothers replenish protein and calcium, and high nutrition, high calcium, and sugar-free can promote bowel movements. Sugar-free and additive-free, it also makes pregnancy more convenient and safe. Not only that but also extended some new categories, such as instant bird’s nest. During the Double Eleven e-commerce festival last year, instant bird’s nest, which focuses on the pregnant women’s market, became a new favorite, and many new consumer brands such as Xiaoniao Yanyan emerged.
In addition, female elderly people face the nuisance of menopausal sub-health, which not only affects personal physical and mental health and happiness but also affects the harmony and happiness of many families. Therefore, attention to the daily conditioning and dietary health care of women’s menopausal sub-health has become a common research topic for many people of insight. In terms of healthy food consumption, menopausal women mainly focus on functions such as anti-aging, soothing emotions, and promoting sleep. They prefer oral beauty liquids, oral hyaluronic acid, and other products.
3 Diversification: ingredient efficacy, diversification of scenes
3.1 The ingredients are diversified in efficacy, and beauty and beauty become a hot spot
With “appearance in power”, health products with beauty functions are highly praised. Whether it is the beverage giant Coca-Cola or the “Hyaluronic Acid One Brother” Huaxi Biology has entered this category. These large companies combine hyaluronic acid, collagen peptides, and other beauty and beauty ingredients to launch food and beverage products that appeal to female consumers.
Coca-Cola launched the “Zun Xuan 28 Awakening Beauty” in November last year, which is a plant-based drink tailored for social e-commerce. This product combines the two major needs of “beauty” and “beauty sleep”, and solves the two major problems that plague women’s health. Huaxi Biotech has teamed up with Bright Dairy to create a product called “Bright Women’s Milk”. The words borrowed from the brand mean that hyaluronic acid is added to milk to meet the multiple needs of consumers for beauty, moisturizing, and nutrition. On the one hand, hyaluronic acid is known as an ideal natural moisturizing factor. One hyaluronic acid molecule can bind up to 1,000 water molecules, which has a special water retention effect. On the other hand, it can play an important role in maintaining the shape, structure, and function of the skin, and it can make consumers more and more moisturized.
3.2 Diversified scenes: snacking, light meal replacement
2021 is a new year for functional foods and health products. Head investment institutions such as Sequoia Capital China, GGV Jiyuan Capital, BAI Capital, IDG Capital, Black Ant Capital, Meihua Venture Capital, and Jiayu Fund have all identified the targets and placed their bets.
The blue ocean of functional foods is emerging, but as a new type of health product, it is showing the characteristics of snacking. For example, many functional soft candy products have appeared on the market. The main purpose of healthy food snacks is to expand the consumption scene, give full play to the advantages of delicious, useful, and portable snacks, so that female consumers can eat them when they think of them. On the road to diversified scenes, in addition to snacking, there is another watershed, that is, light meal replacement. The pursuit of “weight loss plasticity” has always been a major consumer trend for women. In recent years, this trend has gradually shifted to the field of food and beverage, and a trend of “light meal replacement” has swept across.
New and old brands including Xiangpiaopiao and Wang Baobao have launched many innovative products. To meet the needs of female consumers for body management, Xiang Piao Piao launched a light meal replacement milkshake. It is reported that this product is specially added with 7mm high-fiber coconut, which is rich in dietary fiber. At the same time, it is portable in cups, one cup for one meal, eliminating the need for cleaning and other steps. For female consumers, the product helps to maintain normal bowel function and is full for 3.5 hours. The cutting-edge brand Wang Baobao also launched a variety of light cereals. For example, hazelnut black chocolate baked oatmeal is still the main concept of 0 calories sugar substitute, providing healthy and low-fat meal replacement options for women.
3.3 Diversified channels: online and offline omnichannel layout
The trend of diversification of women’s health food is not only reflected in products and scenarios but also in channels. From 2015 to 2020, China’s total social consumer retail sales in the past five years have grown from 30 trillion to 40 trillion. During the same period, the proportion of online e-commerce increased from 15% to 27%, or close to 30%.
Simply put, today our retail market is one-third online and two-thirds offline. That means that if a company only does online or only offline, although it is larger than in previous years, it is not large enough. Therefore, regardless of any category, a single channel will always encounter growth bottlenecks, and only the wired online and offline omnichannel layout can achieve high growth. The same goes for returning to the female health consumer market. Especially for some pregnant women, buying healthy food is more concerned about quality and safety, and online channels will be more cautious. Offline specialty stores, pharmacies, and other channels have become a must for them.
4 High-value product packaging
“Beauty” is an eternal topic pursued by women. In life, everything women cannot do without the topic of “beauty”, and the packaging design of healthy food is no exception. To cater to the aesthetic needs of women, brands racked their brains to design product packaging around individuality and high-value appearance. Only eye-catching packaging can trigger consumers’ desire to buy, from curiosity to exploration, shortening the consumer’s decision-making chain. Aiming at women’s aesthetic consumption psychology, the packaging of health food products has achieved a high-value appearance around the following three points.
4.1 Color beauty
According to the survey, people’s attention attracted by color is about 80%. It can be seen that in the first impression of an object, the first thing to remember is its color. And with coordinated colors, it is easier for people to leave a deep impression. Women are naturally emotional and are easily affected by emotional factors. When there is a color matching that suits their aesthetics, they are more able to participate in the purchase process.
Super Zero is the top 1 brand of weight-loss meal replacement in 2019. It has launched bulletproof coffee, protein bars, milkshakes, and other large items. In addition, it has also set foot in beauty and health drinks such as anti-sugar collagen drinks, sugar, and oil double blocking fiber enzymes. Its packaging is mainly pink. While reflecting the raw materials of the product, it also captures the visual characteristics of women’s preference for soft colors. This makes women have a keen interest in it. Pink has always been one of the favorite shades of women. There are many other colors on the market now. Some brands use purple as the main color, showing a sense of high quality.
4.2 Graphic beauty
Graphics are visual elements second only to colors, and different patterns will bring different visual experiences to consumers. Female consumers prefer those beautiful, soft, cartoon-type patterns. Most of the brands are just doing what they like, not only producing their different packaging, but also co-branding with many famous IPs. The survey results show that packaging with beautiful, soft, and cartoon-type patterns will increase the sales of the product to a certain extent. This also explains the female consumers’ mentality in pursuing the graphic beauty of healthy food packaging.
Japan’s consistently excellent design aesthetic makes the packaging look very pleasant in terms of color and proportion. The most representative one is “Heleyi” under Suntory. This is also an alcoholic beverage targeting the female market, emphasizing the self and independence of women. The name Heleyi has not yet started in China, but its fresh and lovely cans are very recognizable, and you can recognize this brand at a glance. At the same time, as Heleyi continues to introduce new flavors, attracting many consumers to collect, it has become an ins internet celebrity. On social platforms, it even triggered a “national movement”-comparing the colors of my favorite idols with Le Yi, and made a series of pictures to support the idols. This kind of product with the characteristics of interaction, interest, and high-value appearance is extremely disseminating.
4.3 Beauty of text
The text used in the product packaging design not only plays a role in promotion and explanation but also enhances the artistic charm of the packaging through creative text design, thus attracting consumers’ attention. Brands should not only pay attention to women’s aesthetics in terms of colors and patterns but also appropriately take care of women’s aesthetics and self-awareness in the accompanying text and form on the packaging.
Some female health food packaging on the market does not have gorgeous colors and graphics, but the humanistic care embodied in the text has won the favor of female consumers. For example, text with independent and assertive meanings will make female consumers feel good; with scenery and storytelling, female consumers will have beautiful associations.
Of course, to cater to the female consumer aesthetic psychology, it is far from enough to meet the above three points. Brands should also pay attention to the details of packaging, bottle design, layout design, raw materials, and humanistic care. The most important thing is to enable healthy food and beverages to guide consumers from the packaging to satisfy women’s consumer psychology and capture their hearts.
