Retail Market Trends

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As we venture into the culinary landscape of 2024, the food and beverage industry will reflect trends bubbling up from 2023. Even so, Imbibe still expects some transformative changes coming with a new year.

The Specialty Food Association announced the 2024 Winter Fancy Food Show cohort, which is a mission-driven collective of BIPOC founders and executives, dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices and creating equitable opportunities for diverse leaders across the consumer packaged goods ecosystem. 

In 2024, expect brands to help consumers live longer, healthier lives; balance their needs for health and pleasure; and unlock new conveniences from technology. Here's a look at each area.

Every year, Innova Market Insights compiles its Top Ten Food & Drink Trends. The company's latest research shows that food price inflation and the need to cut back on expenses continue to affect consumer markets worldwide.

Kellanova – previously Kellogg Company – vice president, omni and eCommerce, Manish Sharma recently discussed omni-commerce and why it is critical to today's shopper and the future of business.

A forward-looking outlook provides insight into the anticipated performance of the food and beverage industry throughout 2024, pointing to a more favorable landscape as several headwinds that weighed down 2023 are expected to recede.

Over the past four years, plant-based product sales have seen strong growth, reaching record sales of $8B in 2022 (SPINS). While 88% of active users have a moderate to high commitment to continue their plant-based purchases, one-third of shoppers say they would like to see more plant-based offerings at stores, according to research. Retailers and brands can drive growth by offering a broader assortment and more online and in-store options.

Gen Z’s dietary preferences are evolving. To appeal to them, diet and nutrition brands will need to embrace international flavors and cuisines. We predict growth in categories that successfully blend Gen Z’s desire for nutritious, plant-forward foods with their craving for authentic, internationally-inspired flavors.

Although plant-based has become a popular term in the dairy- and meat-free categories, it does not accurately describe all developments in this fast-moving field. There are technologies that generate “animal-free,” bioidentical ingredients such as dairy whey and dairy casein. Even so, “plant-based” continues to grow in use, with indexed average annual growth of +42% between 2017 and 2022.

Creating lower-sugar alternatives to high-sugar dairy products has becomes especially important considering that, according to the CDC’s 2022 National Diabetes Statistics Report, some 130 million Americans—around one-third of the total population—have diabetes or pre-diabetes, and more than 10% don’t even know it. But the dairy industry has not been asleep at the wheel when it comes to this crisis.