Mixed flavours provide an opportunity for producers to lower costs by using less expensive flavours as part of the mix, while keeping products interesting and new for consumers. This is especially true in the main juice-containing categories (juice, nectars and still drinks), where the important single flavours, orange and apple, saw large drops in 2012, while ‘mixed fruit’ flavour saw growth in volume.
Looking at the top 10 chart of fastest growing juice, nectars and still drinks (JNSD) flavours in Europe in 2012, only one was a single flavour.
Varying the flavour mix can be an inexpensive way of attracting new consumers, even in countries where consumers have rather conservative tastes. This particularly applies to the juice and still drinks categories, perhaps because mixes of fruits are not seen as ‘different’ enough to deter even the most conservative consumer.
In addition to attracting new consumers, mixed flavours are more economical to produce than single variants. The specific mix of flavours isn’t always considered important by consumers, so producers have room to formulate mixes in accordance with the price of raw materials.
According to Canadean analysts, consumers in Portugal do not place importance on the particular flavour mix and are ‘moving towards mixed flavour products and away from single flavours’.
To replace traditional orange juice, some producers have developed elaborate citrus mixes, for example in France, where flavour mixes are seen as more sophisticated and Andros’s mixed orange flavour juices performed well.
Using mixed flavours also offers the opportunity to incorporate superfruit elements such as aronia and various berries. Many such mixes saw growth in 2012, and this is expected to persist into 2013 as the health and wellness trend continues.
Apple is a popular choice for mixing with superfruits due to its lower price, such as apple/aronia and apple/berries.
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