Healthy platform for yoghurts

With the traditional healthy image of yoghurts, it is no surprise that products with a health positioning dominate launch activity in the sector. According to the Innova Database, which recorded over 2200 yoghurt launches globally in 2008, over 1500 of these, or well over two-thirds, were positioned on a health platform of some kind.

In recent years, with the increasing segmentation and sophistication of the yoghurt market, it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate between yoghurts with added health benefits, particularly as these benefits can now be divided into two major areas: ‘passive’ and ‘active’ health. Products positioned on a passive health platform include low and light products, as well as natural and organic lines, while active health yoghurts, sometimes also termed functional, include those with added health benefits, such as vitamins and minerals, probiotics, prebiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, etc, as well as those on particular benefit platforms, such as anti-ageing, bone health, heart health and gut health products.

Yoghurts positioned on a passive health platform continue to dominate the market, reflecting the established importance of low and light lines and the growing interest in natural and organic lines. In 2008, over 1200 yoghurt launches recorded in the Innova Database were positioned on a passive health platform, compared with nearly 800 on an active health platform, indicating that there are also a number of products using both positionings, reflecting the growing use of multibenefit claims at a time of strong competitive pressure in the market.

The increasing importance of yoghurts positioned on an active health platform can also be seen from Innova’s data on 2008 launches, which showed that while the number of yoghurt launches overall was virtually static and the number of launches using any health positioning rose just 2%, the number of active health lines rose 8% to nearly 800 between 2007 and 2008 to make up well over one-third of total yoghurt introductions recorded. As might be expected, Europe accounted for nearly half of total yoghurt launches on an active health platform, while the relatively undeveloped North American market accounted for a more modest one-fifth.

Probiotic products dominate the active health yoghurt market in most countries, driven by the success of brands such as Danone’s Activia, which has a global turnover of over US$2 billion/year. Indeed, it has been attributed with kick-starting the US probiotic yoghurts market, which trailed Europe for many years. After just three years on the US market, the Activia brand is worth over US$400m. Activia has been available on the more established European market for some years, starting out in France in the 1980s under the name of Danone Bio. It has been actively developed and promoted in recent years as its new name has been brought into different markets and it has also increased the emphasis on its functional properties in terms of its digestive benefits in speeding intestinal transit. It now dominates the active health dairy market in France and the bifidus yoghurt market in Spain, leads both the fruit yoghurt and functional yoghurt markets in Germany and has over 80% of the active health yoghurts market in the UK, with sales of over GB£150m a year.

A look on the Innova Database also illustrates how the brand is developing, with ongoing new product activity across a range of countries and recent introductions including an Activia yoghurt drink variant in Germany, Activia Intensely Creamy premium dessert-style yoghurts in the UK and Activia Fruits Cuits layered yoghurts with fruit in France.

Outside the probiotic arena, the market for active health yoghurts has also seen growth in cholesterol-lowering heart-health products using plant sterols/stanols, led by brands such as pro.activ from Unilever and Benecol from McNeil. Other, more fragmented markets include yoghurts with added omega-3 fatty acids and bone health yoghurts with calcium-based ingredient blends. Prebiotics are also increasingly being used in association with probiotics to offer multibenefit products.

Lu Ann Williams, Innova Market Insight’s Head of Research, comments: “The success of Activia has boosted the active health yoghurts market as a whole and, as well as increasing product activity, the market has seen strong growth over the past few years, easily outstripping the active health drinks sector, which was previously more dynamic. While the passive health yoghurts sector is apparently stabilising as consumers increasingly regard low and light lines as standard in many instances, products are tending to move to an active health positioning where possible, while often also maintaining passive health benefit claims to maximise consumer appeal.”

For further information on the Innova Database, contact Glen Wells, who is  the representative for Australia and New Zealand.