It was great to see so many new and innovative products at this year’s Natural Products Expo West Show in Anaheim. Here are 3 trends we took away from the show.
Coconut is already hot and looks to be getting hotter.
Coconut oil, Coconut sugar and of course Coconut water continue to dominate the Natural Products world. But this year, we noticed more and more new products that used coconut as a sweetener or as its oil base. As the health benefits of coconut continue to mount, look for more and more brands to incorporate or highlight coconut throughout the year.
Natural and organic is mainstream.
It used to be that organic was thought of only as a fringe market, and many viewed natural or organic as only what “health nuts” ate. That is not the case anymore, as the majority of shoppers view natural and organic as an important factor during their purchase making decision. We can see a time in the foreseeable future where products made with artificial ingredients and corn syrup will be more of the exception than the norm.
The Growth of new natural and organic products will benefit online retailers such as Amazon.
The BOOM of new natural and organic products is GREAT news for LongTail and online retailers such as Amazon. As store space continues to be at a premium, it is estimated that retailers only carry about 20% or less of new items that are brought to market in a given year. That means that 80% of products that are released need a Virtual Retail space. As a result, online retailers such as Amazon, make it possible for the “Long Tail” of these thousands of items to be available for shoppers. Additionally, when these new items do make it to the store shelf, it means they replaced an item that use to be carried by the store, resulting in shoppers having to look to get these in demand items elsewhere in online marketplaces.
