New product marketers can look forward to a number of new trends in the coming decade, from more humane meat and poultry products and plastic packaging that won’t last forever to skincare products you can wear. Datamonitor’s Product Launch Analytics, which tracks new product launches in food and drinks around the world, takes a look at these and other trends in consumer packaged goods that will be hitting supermarket shelves in the coming year.

A more humane world
Animal rights have emerged as a growing worldwide concern as consumers want to know more about how the foods they eat were raised and prepared. For example, according to the Datamonitor research, the “free range” product claim commonly used to identify how poultry are raised has nearly doubled in frequency for new food products launched worldwide since 2006.

Poultry has recently been joined by free-range pork, lamb and beef and the free-range trend will accelerate in 2010 as foodservice chains follow the trail blazed by leading-edge consumer packaged goods companies into humanely-raised products. The research has highlighted the UK as leading the way, with China, Brazil and the USA not far behind, all showing an increase in the launch of products making the ‘free range claim’.

Growth in meat flavoured products market
A flurry of meat flavoured product launches in the USA over the last few months has combined with innovations from the UK, leading Datamonitor to predict this will be a key trend in 2010. The products launched in the USA included Das Lolli Man Bait (meat flavoured lollipops), Mo’s Dark Bacon Bar and Backon (bacon flavoured Vodka).

Plastics back in from the cold
New types of degradable packaging enable plastic to biodegrade in years, not centuries. The key is additives like EcoPure or Reverte that help plastic biodegrade more quickly and safely than it ordinarily would. The bottled water market has been ground zero for this trend with entries like Aquamantra Natural Spring Water in Enso bottles and State of Mind Bottled Water in Reverte Back to Nature bottles (both from the USA). This trend is likely to accelerate in 2010 on a global scale with Charlies Honest Water in an eco bottle from Australia and New Zealand and Italy’s Sant’anna Bio bottle. Datamonitor expects the trend to move beyond the bottled water market to other categories.

Skincare you wear
Innovations like skin-enhancing bedding from US-based company, London Luxury, and sun activated clothing from Toronto brand SunSoul, show that wearable skincare could be a breakout hit in 2010 and beyond. These products utilize breakthroughs in nanotechnology to incorporate ultrafine particles like copper or aloe vera into clothing or bedding. SkinGlow, also from London Luxury, uses Cupron Copper Technology that professes to smooth or reduce the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines and more in just a few weeks of use.

More muscular functional drinks
A decade ago, a brand called Red Bull took the soft drink market by storm, creating a new niche for energy drinks. History could potentially repeat itself with a drinks brand called Muscle Milk. Quietly, the protein-enhanced exercise recovery drink brand from Californian Company, Cytosport has crafted a following that suggests significant crossover potential for so-called “muscle” beverages that have long been aimed at weightlifters and power athletes. Muscle Milk and similar healthy and active lifestyle beverages could be the next hot niche within the functional drinks market.

Superfruits get more exotic
Candidates for the next hot superfruit for 2010 and beyond include Baobab (a tart African fruit high in antioxidants), Borojo (a natural energizer from the jungles of South and Central America), Maqui (a berry native to South America said to have 8 times the antioxidants of blueberries) and Yumberry (technically “yang-mi” fruit – a super-high antioxidant tree fruit from China).

Ingredients: the fewer, the better
Packaged food and drinks companies around the world are seeking to say “better for you” in innovative ways. The newest technique is to take a machete to product ingredient lists. Out are ingredients that sound more at home in a chemistry lab and in their place are ingredients that most consumers recognize. Haagen-Dazs’ 5 Ice Cream illustrates the trend with just five ingredients for each ice cream flavor. Look for other packaged food and drinks makers to dance the limbo with product ingredient lists in 2010 and beyond.

Bamboo cleans up
Perhaps no substance has enjoyed more of a booster shot courtesy of the green movement than bamboo. Thanks to its outrageously-fast growth rate (it can grow as much as 24 inches in a single day), bamboo has become the ingredient of choice for companies that want to bolster their sustainability credentials. The substance has shown up in recent launches as disparate as dish-cleaning sponges and paper plates to baby wipes and cosmetics packaging.

From energy shots to relaxation shots
While the shot format has been around for some time in various world markets for dairy-based drinks, the format has exploded in popularity in other markets. Almost singlehandedly, shots have elevated the energy drink market to new heights. The latest “shot” trend is the polar opposite of energy drinks – new relaxation “shots” that offer a non-alcoholic way to reduce stress. Most launches have been from the USA although we’ve seen launches in Amsterdam with LR Liquid Relaxx Calm Alert Drink and Fancl Suyarin from Japan (the first drink to specifically induce sleep).  All told, the number of new products featuring the words “shot” or “shots” has doubled since 2006, reports Datamonitor’s Product Launch Analytics.

A gluten-free world
The gluten-free movement credit as it continues to strengthen each year. With the incidence of food-related allergies on the rise, things look good for suffers of celiac disease seeking products they can enjoy. Datamonitor’s Product Launch Analytics reports a doubling of new gluten-free products since 2005 with major consumer packaged goods companies now jumping on the bandwagon.

The Datamonitor group (www.datamonitor.com) is a world-leading provider of premium global business information, delivering independent data, analysis and opinion across the Automotive, Consumer Markets, Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Logistics & Express, Pharmaceutical & Healthcare, Retail, Sourcing, Technology and Telecoms industries. Combining our industry knowledge and experience, we assist more than 6,000 of the world’s leading companies in making better strategic and operational decisions.