Study Finds a Lucrative Future for Women's Food and Beverages
NEW YORK CITY -- The market for women's food and beverages grew at a compound annual rate of 80 percent between 2000 and 2004, and is now a $4.6 billion industry. At its current growth, it could reach as high as $7.7 billion by 2009, according to a new study by Packaged Facts.
The study, The U.S. Market for Women's Food and Beverages, reports that women's food was a nascent field in 2000, with sales of $430 million. In this decade; however, the food and beverage industry began catering to special nutritional needs of women, and the category has exploded.
Fueling this growth are a number of factors:
-- Of all U.S. adults more than 65 years old, 58.8 percent are female, which equates to approximately 20.6 million women looking to slow the pains of aging.
-- Women have more health-related issues to deal with than men: they have unique nutritional needs during pregnancy, port-partum, menstruation, and menopause.
-- An increasing number of women are working outside the home and are increasingly time-pressed, presenting an opportunity for on-the-go meal solutions.
-- Women are still the primary grocery shoppers with approximately three-quarters of all women in the United States claim to have all grocery shopping responsibility.
"Foods for women offer significant competitive advantages to marketers," said Don Montuori, acquisitions editor of Packaged Facts. "Currently, many food and beverage categories--such as breakfast cereal and juice--are mature and threatened with becoming mere commodities. In such cases, marketers can use medically beneficial formulations to strengthen brand differentiation, expand market share, bring new users into the fold, and increase consumption among established users."
The study, The U.S. Market for Women's Food and Beverages, reports that women's food was a nascent field in 2000, with sales of $430 million. In this decade; however, the food and beverage industry began catering to special nutritional needs of women, and the category has exploded.
Fueling this growth are a number of factors:
-- Of all U.S. adults more than 65 years old, 58.8 percent are female, which equates to approximately 20.6 million women looking to slow the pains of aging.
-- Women have more health-related issues to deal with than men: they have unique nutritional needs during pregnancy, port-partum, menstruation, and menopause.
-- An increasing number of women are working outside the home and are increasingly time-pressed, presenting an opportunity for on-the-go meal solutions.
-- Women are still the primary grocery shoppers with approximately three-quarters of all women in the United States claim to have all grocery shopping responsibility.
"Foods for women offer significant competitive advantages to marketers," said Don Montuori, acquisitions editor of Packaged Facts. "Currently, many food and beverage categories--such as breakfast cereal and juice--are mature and threatened with becoming mere commodities. In such cases, marketers can use medically beneficial formulations to strengthen brand differentiation, expand market share, bring new users into the fold, and increase consumption among established users."