According to Nielsen's recent Global Health & Wellness Report, the anti-obesity and health-conscious trend is increasingly valued by Chinese consumers, who are beginning to change their food consumption habits and are willing to pay a premium for foods with health attributes or concepts. For manufacturers, huge opportunities are brewing in the Chinese market.

Obesity is no longer a 'disease of affluence' exclusive to residents of developed countries. The report shows that 62% of the world's obese population comes from developing countries, and this proportion is still rising. Meanwhile, 44% of Chinese consumers (49% globally) believe they are overweight. Fortunately, they have realized the importance of staying away from obesity and maintaining health, and are actively working to change their status. Among these, exercise and changing dietary habits are considered important ways to improve physical condition. Globally, 75% of consumers believe 'you are what you eat,' and 80% are improving their dietary habits to prevent diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

Nielsen's research found that compared to developed countries, consumers in developing countries are more willing to pay a premium for health. Approximately three-quarters of Chinese respondents are very willing (30%) or somewhat willing to pay a premium for food categories with health attributes. Consumers' health demands, preferred 'weight loss' methods, attitudes toward health attributes, and purchasing behavior all indicate huge future market opportunities.

"Food manufacturers and retailers need to follow the trend and focus on researching consumers' health demands to truly unlock the enormous market potential contained therein," said Fan Yijin, Senior Vice President of Nielsen China. "Although consumers' favorite 'weight loss campaigns' are always emerging, foods that are innovative, tasty, convenient, and provide health benefits while returning to their roots can always survive in the market. Identifying the focus is the first step to seizing opportunities."

Returning to nature, consumers prefer natural, additive-free foods

Nielsen's Global Health & Wellness Survey shows that fresh, natural, and unprocessed are the most important health attributes in the purchase decision process for global respondents. In China, 'no artificial colors' (49%) and 'non-GMO' (49%) are considered the most important health food attributes by Chinese respondents, while 'no artificial flavors' (48%), 'all-natural' (45%), and 'organic' (39%) are also considered very critical factors, following closely behind.

Food consumption also sometimes follows the principle of 'less is more.' 36% of Chinese respondents consider low salt and low sodium content very critical. 'Low cholesterol' (35%), 'low sugar or sugar-free' (29%), 'low carbohydrate or no carbohydrates' (28%), and 'low fat or fat-free' (27%) are also key factors affecting purchases. Of course, there are also some ingredients that consumers want to avoid. 32% of Chinese consumers consider caffeine-free very critical, and no high-fructose corn syrup (28%) and gluten-free (19%) are also considered very important.

Nielsen's research also shows that functional foods have recently become a new favorite among consumers. 'High in fiber' (32%), 'high protein' (31%), 'whole grain' (28%), 'rich in vitamins' (26%), 'high calcium' (26%), 'rich in minerals' (26%), and 'micronutrients' (26%) are all considered important elements that healthy foods should include. 'Contains local herbal ingredients' (28%) is also favored by nearly one-third of consumers.

So with health awareness, are consumers willing to pay a premium for healthy foods? According to Nielsen data, consumers are willing to pay higher prices for foods that are 'all-natural' (47%), 'organic' (40%), 'non-GMO' (39%), 'no artificial flavors' (37%), and 'no artificial colors' (36%).

At the same time, there are certain differences between consumers' awareness and purchasing power. Nielsen's Global Health & Wellness Survey shows that for some health food attributes, their revenue-generating ability is even greater than their importance in consumers' eyes. For example, 'all-natural' (47% willing to pay a premium vs. 45% considering it very important), organic (40% vs. 39%), whole grain (31% vs. 28%), more consumers are willing to pay for these health attributes. Health claims on labels help resonate with consumers

According to Nielsen data, 81% of Chinese respondents carefully read ingredient labels on product packaging, and 70% believe health claims on packaging.

"Before designing health labels for products, manufacturers need to accurately grasp consumers' perceptions of the product," said Fan Yijin. "If in consumers' minds, a product already belongs to the health category, then the corresponding labels and health claims can resonate more with them, and they will quickly identify with the information you convey; but if the product itself is sub-healthy or unhealthy, manufacturers need to consider more carefully and cleverly connect with consumer needs. For example, in their perception, potato chips are high-salt, high-calorie unhealthy foods, and low-salt labels can reduce their purchase guilt, but claiming it is 'good for heart health' is meaningless for purchases."

Unity of knowledge and action, health claims boost market performance

According to the latest Nielsen retail research, as consumers' health awareness continues to increase, the health concept has undoubtedly become a keyword in the Chinese consumer market in 2014 and 2015. Nielsen's retail research for the first three quarters of 2014 shows that while overall food market sales only grew by 5%, food with health concepts performed more than three times better than similar products.

Taking the beverage category as an example, as of November last year, natural and functional beverage categories achieved double-digit growth in 2014. Among them, mineral natural drinking water sales grew 23% year-on-year, far higher than the overall growth rate of packaged water (14.3%). Vitamin-rich beverage sales grew 30%, followed by protein-rich beverages (24%) and energy drinks (21%).

"Although foods with health claims still have very good upside, manufacturers need to consider how to make good use of the health attributes and health labels of products to improve their sales performance," emphasized Fan Yijin, Vice President of Nielsen.