Welcome to the 2020s! It’s easy to get excited about the dawn of a new decade, but hard to forget that January is usually a joyless slog for brands. People have maxed out their waistlines and their credit cards, and they’re looking to slim down and tighten their belts. But there is hope for brands in the FMCG space looking to make some money. Here are three things your brand can do to maximize profits in the first quarter of this year.
The holiday season generally ends with everybody, even teetotalers, feeling a bit hungover. The eggnog, endless boxes of chocolates, and flowing rivers of champagne have left the world sluggish and bloated. People are eager to do whatever they can to drop a few pounds, catch up on rest, and feel great again. And most of us will look for health tips the way we look for any information: on our phones. Every year, we are informed about a new group of super-foods and diet trends that will transform our bodies and change our lives. But wise brands will be cautious about the claims they make.
Social media is capable of shaping our perceptions of food, and building a campaign around the benefits your products can offer is definitely a winner. But offering dubious information and unverifiable claims is likely to be a dangerous game this year. One interesting study found that women on social media were likely to deem food healthy based on their likelihood of eating it. Another study from the University of Glasgow found that nutrition bloggers were quite often giving flawed or misguided advice. Calls from the scientific community for more regulation and oversight of online nutritional claims are increasing in number, as studies find that social media is offering potentially dangerous diet advice and creating more cases of eating disorders.
We seem to be primed for a backlash against unreliable nutritional claims, so we’d recommend building your campaign around accurate, provable, and sound information, and influencing your influencers against making unsubstantiated claims. In an era where consumer trust in brands is rapidly eroding, ensuring that you are offering reliable, scientifically verified advice could be a game-changer in building and maintaining positive, trusting relationships with your customers.
These days,it seems like we discover a trendy new super-food every week. And as the new year dawns, forecasters are predicting a big year for West African products like millet, teff, moringa, tamarind, and fonio as well as gluten-free “super flours” like tiger nut flour and cauliflower flour, and meat-plant blends as a healthier alternative to hamburgers and sausages. If you’re eager to eat healthier in the coming decade but have no earthly idea how to whip up a delicious plate of fonio and plant-based protein, you’re not alone.
By creating a shoppable recipe platform that offers consumers the opportunity to experiment with exotic and healthy ingredients, you’ll be providing them with a valuable service. And as significant amounts of grocery dollars migrate to online platforms, and Amazon uses its marketing might to push Whole Foods’ array of trendy products and ingredients, niche diet trends and obscure ingredients will be available to everyone, everywhere, not just celebrity vegans like Joaquin Phoenix. If you’re offering consumers easy ways to toss those ingredients into a healthy and delicious meal, they’ll be happy to hand over the cash.
Wal-Mart’s recent collaboration with BuzzFeed to offer shoppable recipes gives us a glimpse of the future. Marketing analyst Dave Nixon of Teradata notes that “Shoppable recipes eliminate one point of friction in the customer journey. It might not be a major traffic driver to the retailer initially, but it will be over time.” The new year is a perfect time to make your investment in shoppable recipes, with consumers eager to find information about healthier eating. By offering them a convenient way to buy the ingredients they’re reading about and turn them into something tasty, you can get them hooked on your sales platform as well as your products.
Dry January has already peaked as a trend. In fact, some media outlets are declaring the pledge to remain sober during the first month of the year dead! If it is indeed dying, it will be a victim of its own success. A survey by YouGov in the USA found that the number of respondents pledging to abstain dipped from 23% in 2019 to 14% in 2020. But the reason for the decline isn’t the embrace of a debaucherous lifestyle. 33% of respondents in the 2020 survey reported that they don’t ever drink, a 38% increase in teetotalism from 2018.
But the decrease in alcohol consumption doesn’t mean that people are no longer interested in spending money on drinks. “Sober Bars” are popping up, where patrons can enjoy the conviviality of a night out, and the tastes of trendy cocktails, without the hangover. And sales of low and no alcohol beverages have been surging around the world, with a third of British adults reporting that they had tried a new alcohol-free beer, wine, or spirit last year, and sales of alcohol-free drinks increasing by 80%. Offering alcohol-free options is clearly a recipe for success, and January is the ideal month to launch and promote healthy alternatives to booze.
While consumers won’t be buying as many electronics, desserts, or toys for the rest of the winter, they’re hungry for healthy choices, and ready to experiment with products that can tighten tummies and promise wellness. If you’re looking for ways to offer shoppable solutions to the holiday hangover, look no further than Adimo!
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Adimo are hosting a webinar to talk about the Social Commerce Opportunity on Thursday 27th February. If you are interested do not hesitate to sign up below.