Products with health attributes are growing faster than regular foods in the food retail sector

Scanntech data indicates that diet, light, and whole foods account for 48.6% of the total basket of products with health attributes.

Scanntech, a leader in intelligence for the food retail sector, conducted an analysis of the performance of health-related products compared to regular products in 2023 vs. 2022. The result shows that in the food retail market, low-sodium, skimmed, diet, whole, light, organic, prebiotic, probiotic, protein-rich, sugar-free, gluten-free, sodium-free, vegan, and vegetarian products continue to grow. These products, which represented 11% of total revenue in the food retail sector last year, grew by 9.5%, while regular products, with a 88.9% share in the consumer basket in 2023, only advanced by 6.2% compared to the same period the previous year.

Within the basket of products with health attributes, diet, light, and whole products stood out, representing 48.6% of the healthy product basket. On the other hand, the variety composed of low-sodium, skimmed, organic, prebiotic, probiotic, protein-rich, sugar-free, gluten-free, sodium-free, vegan, and vegetarian products, captured a slight majority with 51.4% of sales due to their greater diversity.

According to Priscila Ariani, Marketing Director at Scanntech, a notable point is that light products showed the highest growth in 2023 compared to 2022, with a sales increase of 15.9%, followed by diet products with a growth of 12.5%, and whole products, with a more modest increase of 1.9%. In the comparison between these subcategories, in 2023, whole products led in sales with 67.4%, while light products represented 26.4% and diet products only 6.3% of the market.

Regarding the main categories of foods with healthy attributes, diet/light/whole juices had the highest revenue growth in 2023 with 18.6%. They were followed by sodas with 16.5% and bread with a 6.4% increase in sales.

Priscila explains that these data highlight a shift in consumer behavior, as they are increasingly inclined to choose products that promote health and well-being. For 2024, it is expected that this trend of prioritizing healthiness in food products will continue to grow.