Consumer consciousness is on the rise. We are focusing more on our health and well-being. Habits and expectations continue to evolve and beverages are more than just refreshment. They need to offer benefits that reflect personal lifestyles.
As a leading manufacturer of organic minerals, Jungbunzlauer performed a consumer study with more than 1,400 participants in order to better understand consumer knowledge, perceptions and preferences in respect of minerals. The survey provides insights from the USA, the UK and Germany into consumer opinions of minerals in supplements, fortified beverages and food. This fact sheet describes the results of the study, allowing our customers to exploit the insights for a more targeted marketing of products that contain organic minerals from Jungbunzlauer.
Minerals have diverse functionalities in the human body that are necessary for its overall health. Thus, we need the daily intake of a broad range of minerals to avoid mineral deficiencies, which might result in disease symptoms and common disorders.
Jungbunzlauer, as a leading manufacturer of organic minerals, wanted to understand if consumers
- are aware of the importance of minerals for their health
- have knowledge about the advantages of organic minerals
- prefer organic minerals over inorganic minerals
- are open to food and beverage mineral fortification or supplementation.
The company asked more than 1,400 consumers to participate in two online surveys on minerals. The surveys were conducted in cooperation with Döhler GmbH Sensory & Consumer Science (referred to in the following as “Döhler”) and students from the Aalen University Business Development course (referred to as “Aalen University”). This fact sheet describes in detail the results of the two online surveys.
Healthy nutrition and minerals are a major topic for consumers. However, only 40% of the respondents believe that their mineral supply is sufficient to cover their needs. This indicates that there is an unmet demand among consumers to increase their mineral supply, which provides a growth opportunity for products containing high levels of minerals. Since the vast majority of the panellists wished for more information on the mineral content of the products they purchase, it is recommended to add the mineral content of the final product to the nutritional information, as it is already done in the USA. Moreover, consumers have only limited knowledge of the health benefits of minerals. Thus, if possible, it is helpful for consumer education to add health claims on the fortified products.
However, it seemed that information about the exact mineral compound in the product might overload consumers, who are generally not aware of the specific characteristics of compounds and the differences between them. As consumers have very positive associations with the term “organic minerals”, it is recommended to advertise the final product as containing “organic” minerals instead of their specific form. Furthermore, it might be a good idea to avoid or to explain the rather technical term “bioavailability” when describing the advantages of organic minerals. For example, bioavailability can be described as “minerals that can be easily absorbed”. Furthermore, the results indicate that mineral supplements and mineral fortified versions of food and beverages are on the rise, which confirms that these applications offer an opportunity for growth
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