Biggest bakery NPD trends in Europe 2013

Innova Market Insights tracked more than 200,000 products across more than 70 countries, globally over the course of 2013.

Speaking at the Fi Bakery Innovation Europe conference in Munich on Wednesday 19, Özden Kilic, market analyst for Innova, said there were plenty of interesting trends when looking at new product development in Europe’s bakery sector.

Kilic said that it was particularly interesting to note that innovation had become more pan-European than in the past when industry NPD had been more segmented and localized.

“The European bakery market has become smaller - you see products going round the market now, which is different to seeing one clear trend that differs from country to country,”​ he told attendees.

Sweet biscuits and cookies most popular NPD​

Within Europe, one-third of all new product launches in the bakery sector were sweet biscuits or cookies, Kilic said. Cakes and sweet breads came in second, followed by breads and bread products.

Compared to other global markets, like North America where sweet biscuits and cookies represented just one-quarter of all launches in 2013, he said the products were “relatively more important in the European market”.​

This product sector was also the biggest for gluten-free launches in Europe, he said.

Biggest on-pack claim? ‘No additives or preservatives’​

Within the 2013 bakery launches, ‘no additives’ and ‘no preservatives’ came in top as the biggest on-pack claim relating to ingredients-removal, Kilic said.

“The ‘no additives/preservatives’ claim was the most passive claim in bakery products. About 12% of all bakery products launched in Europe carried such a claim,” ​he said.

A ‘passive’ claim, the analyst explained, was any claim that related to ingredients that had been taken out for perceived health or safety concerns, rather than ‘active’ claims which relate to the addition of ingredients for health benefits.

The number one claim fitted in nicely to consumer sentiment around additives and preservatives, he said. Innova consumer research indicated that 39% of consumers have decreased their consumption of foods with additives or preservatives.

The second most-used claim was allergen related – positioning baked good products with allergy claims. Organic was the third most-popular, on-pack claim with 7% of all new bakery products in Europe communicating this.

“In terms of growth from previous years, it’s interesting to note that organic and whole grain claims have increased, while gluten-free remains steady in terms of percentage of total bakery product launches,”​ Kilic said.

Euro costs: Prices per kilo up on last year​

When it came to the average cost of new bakery products launched in 2013, the analyst said that the price per kilo was up on last year. 

In 2013, less products were tracked at €3-5 per kilo and a higher proportion at €6-9 per kilo, compared to products tracked the previous year, he said.

“There has been an increase in the overall price of bakery product launches. There was an increase of 5.4% in the average price per kilo for bakery product launches in Europe from 2012 to 2013.”​

For sweet biscuits and cookies – the most popular new bakery product – Kilic said the price rise was even more significant – up 11% on 2012.

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