Simone Baroke, Contributing Analyst, Euromonitor04.24.15
When it comes to choosing "healthier" ice cream, it is not sugar or fat content that today's consumers seem to be focusing on. Rather, they hanker after offerings that are natural, high in protein and free from something, preferably dairy. Frozen yogurt has been eating into the better-for-you (BFY) ice cream market for years, on the grounds of being naturally low in fat. The next big threat for BFY ice cream looming on the horizon is dairy-free frozen desserts.
Battling the Healthy Indulgence Contradiction
It is evident that health and wellness-positioned ice cream is finding the present environment a tad challenging. Our data show that global value sales, at constant 2014 prices and 2014 fixed exchange rates, slipped slightly from $4.7 billion in 2013 to $4.6 billion in 2014.
Reduced-fat ice cream value declined from $3.4 billion to $3.2 billion over the 2009-2014 review period. Reduced-sugar ice cream also lost out, as did reduced-carb products. It has always been tricky to sell a healthy indulgence product. Even when overtly committed to a weight-loss regime, dieters often fancy a naughty treat, and what they long for is the real thing. They may be prepared to compromise on sensual eating pleasure when it comes to main meals, but there's just no fun in virtuous sinning.
Nestlé seems to have been contemplating this conundrum in its revival strategy for its Skinny Cow brand. Skinny Cow ranks second in reduced-fat ice cream in the U.S., but the brand's sales dropped to $170 million in 2014 from its $274 million high four years earlier.
In a concerted move toward indulgence—at least as far as the brand allows—Nestlé announced in January 2015 that it was to add Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream Bars ("the first-ever low-fat ice cream bars fully dipped in chocolate") and one new flavor of Ice Cream Candy Bar to its line-up. In fact, the company is adding a total of nine new lines, which includes Skinny Cow's first venture into RTD coffee with Creamy Iced Coffee Drink. Clearly, Nestlé is convinced that the brand won't return to its former level of prosperity on the strength of low-fat ice cream alone.
Frozen Yogurt is Tough Competition
The reality is that reduced-fat ice cream is finding it ever harder to compete against frozen yogurt, which saw global value sales increase from $574 to $840 over the review period. We predict that they will break through the $1 billion annual value sales barrier by 2018.
Frozen yogurt is not only inherently low in fat, but it also sports a fairly high protein content when compared to standard ice cream. High protein, of course, is what modern-day dieters are after, because it is believed to enhance satiety. On top of that, frozen yogurt is also perceived as being much more natural than reduced-fat ice cream. Natural is an attractive characteristic for indulgence products, as attested by the fact that organic ice cream values continued to grow, year-on-year, over the review period, albeit fairly modestly.
Frozen yogurt's only Achilles heel, it seems, is a high sugar content. And this is where U.K.-based The Protein Ice Cream Company sees its opportunity. Successfully relaunched in the U.K. in 2012, after a bout in administration due to a lack of investment when the brand was still in its infancy, the company's Wheyhey brand sports 22 grams of protein per 150 gram serving and places equal emphasis on being sugar-free. Distributed through gyms and specialist retailers like Holland & Barrett and GNC, its core fitness-orientated clientele tends to be quite knowledgeable about nutrition and would baulk at the sugar content of a standard product, whether it was high in protein or not. In order to diversity its offering, The Protein Ice Cream Company added Push-Ups, a hand-held frozen yogurt product in ice lolly format to its line-up last spring. In September, Wheyhey launched in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
Free-From Indulgence a Likely Winner
While it may never capture a broad mass-market audience, a brand like Wheyhey has every chance of carving out a substantial consumer following in the current climate, which is becoming ever more hostile to sugar.
A bigger success, though, could feasibly be achieved by an indulgence product that was high in protein and free from dairy.
The free-from trend is well and truly mainstream by now, with a notable presence across virtually all indulgence product categories. Our data show that lactose-free ice cream grew from $183 million to $307 million globally over the 2009-2014 review period. But rather than just avoiding the milk sugar lactose, which many people have trouble digesting, a growing number of consumers eschew dairy altogether, believing that they are sensitive in some way to dairy protein.
Therefore, what we expect to see in the near future is the proliferation of high-protein dairy-free frozen desserts. The sugar and fat content of these products is going to play a secondary role, however.
For further insight, contact Ewa Hudson, Global Head of Health and Wellness Research at Euromonitor International, at ewa.hudson@euromonitor.com.
Battling the Healthy Indulgence Contradiction
It is evident that health and wellness-positioned ice cream is finding the present environment a tad challenging. Our data show that global value sales, at constant 2014 prices and 2014 fixed exchange rates, slipped slightly from $4.7 billion in 2013 to $4.6 billion in 2014.
Reduced-fat ice cream value declined from $3.4 billion to $3.2 billion over the 2009-2014 review period. Reduced-sugar ice cream also lost out, as did reduced-carb products. It has always been tricky to sell a healthy indulgence product. Even when overtly committed to a weight-loss regime, dieters often fancy a naughty treat, and what they long for is the real thing. They may be prepared to compromise on sensual eating pleasure when it comes to main meals, but there's just no fun in virtuous sinning.
Nestlé seems to have been contemplating this conundrum in its revival strategy for its Skinny Cow brand. Skinny Cow ranks second in reduced-fat ice cream in the U.S., but the brand's sales dropped to $170 million in 2014 from its $274 million high four years earlier.
In a concerted move toward indulgence—at least as far as the brand allows—Nestlé announced in January 2015 that it was to add Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream Bars ("the first-ever low-fat ice cream bars fully dipped in chocolate") and one new flavor of Ice Cream Candy Bar to its line-up. In fact, the company is adding a total of nine new lines, which includes Skinny Cow's first venture into RTD coffee with Creamy Iced Coffee Drink. Clearly, Nestlé is convinced that the brand won't return to its former level of prosperity on the strength of low-fat ice cream alone.
Frozen Yogurt is Tough Competition
The reality is that reduced-fat ice cream is finding it ever harder to compete against frozen yogurt, which saw global value sales increase from $574 to $840 over the review period. We predict that they will break through the $1 billion annual value sales barrier by 2018.
Frozen yogurt is not only inherently low in fat, but it also sports a fairly high protein content when compared to standard ice cream. High protein, of course, is what modern-day dieters are after, because it is believed to enhance satiety. On top of that, frozen yogurt is also perceived as being much more natural than reduced-fat ice cream. Natural is an attractive characteristic for indulgence products, as attested by the fact that organic ice cream values continued to grow, year-on-year, over the review period, albeit fairly modestly.
Frozen yogurt's only Achilles heel, it seems, is a high sugar content. And this is where U.K.-based The Protein Ice Cream Company sees its opportunity. Successfully relaunched in the U.K. in 2012, after a bout in administration due to a lack of investment when the brand was still in its infancy, the company's Wheyhey brand sports 22 grams of protein per 150 gram serving and places equal emphasis on being sugar-free. Distributed through gyms and specialist retailers like Holland & Barrett and GNC, its core fitness-orientated clientele tends to be quite knowledgeable about nutrition and would baulk at the sugar content of a standard product, whether it was high in protein or not. In order to diversity its offering, The Protein Ice Cream Company added Push-Ups, a hand-held frozen yogurt product in ice lolly format to its line-up last spring. In September, Wheyhey launched in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
Free-From Indulgence a Likely Winner
While it may never capture a broad mass-market audience, a brand like Wheyhey has every chance of carving out a substantial consumer following in the current climate, which is becoming ever more hostile to sugar.
A bigger success, though, could feasibly be achieved by an indulgence product that was high in protein and free from dairy.
The free-from trend is well and truly mainstream by now, with a notable presence across virtually all indulgence product categories. Our data show that lactose-free ice cream grew from $183 million to $307 million globally over the 2009-2014 review period. But rather than just avoiding the milk sugar lactose, which many people have trouble digesting, a growing number of consumers eschew dairy altogether, believing that they are sensitive in some way to dairy protein.
Therefore, what we expect to see in the near future is the proliferation of high-protein dairy-free frozen desserts. The sugar and fat content of these products is going to play a secondary role, however.
For further insight, contact Ewa Hudson, Global Head of Health and Wellness Research at Euromonitor International, at ewa.hudson@euromonitor.com.
