Consumers are demanding healthier types of sports and performance nutrition products, and brands are responding with better-for-you options that contain less sugar and feature plant-based ingredients, according to Mintel.
Many sports and performance nutrition products feature sweet and indulgent flavour profiles. There is scope to explore alternative, less overtly sweet flavours in this category. Ongoing concerns about COVID-19 suggest that products which explicitly support immune health are likely to appeal to consumers.
Over half of all UK consumers who use sports nutrition products think that the market is too focused on sweet flavours, suggesting opportunities for less-sweet alternatives.
More recently, there have been a few examples of sports and performance nutrition brands which have launched products with more unusual and innovative flavours, but these remain niche. In future, more savoury flavours could represent an opportunity for brands to create new consumption occasions and stand out in the market.
Products with less-sweet flavours, such as spicy bars, bitter lemon whey protein, orange mango collagen shots, can reignite consumer interest in the sector and encourage new consumption occasions.
See bellow the popular flavours in the Sports Nutrition category:
Blends offer a range of flavours with less sweet profiles such as, botanicals, herbs, citrus. We can help your business to develop products to meet the new consumers demand and offer an innovative taste for any application.
Source: Mintel