Seeing the trends

摘要

Dairy has long been one of the most creative categories in the supermarket, creating new types of products and bringing new benefits to the consumer. But there is an increasingly wide gap between the performance companies who understand the key consumer trends and make them part of their strategy - and those who do not. Key to success in dairy nutrition is that, alongside your volume business, you should have new products that are trend-connected - lower volume but usually higher margin. These are the seeds from which future great trees can grow. Among the companies who have embraced this strategy are: Graham's Dairy in Scotland, which has used NPD connected to the protein, provenance and snackification trends to make itself a strong, value-added company, as well as a commodity liquid milk seller. Valio Dairy in Finland has embraced the plant-based dairy alternatives trend, despite being a farmer-owned dairy co-operative. Valio sees an opportunity that can improve farmer returns and keep challengers out of the chiller cabinet.