The Weight-Management Market

LAS VEGASBecause some 65% of Americans believe they are either overweight or extremely overweight or obese, the weight management market is a strong one. Estimates put the total market for weight management products and services at $68.7 million for 2010.  Understanding consumer attitudes toward weight management and weight loss can help food manufacturers design products that best meet consumer needs. In a presentation at SupplySide West, Losing Weight, Gaining Sales: New Developments in Weight Management Foods, Drinks and Supplements," Tom Vierhile, director product launch analytics, Datamonitor, offered an overview of what consumers think and want when it comes to their weight.

Consumers, he says, take a debits-credits approach to eating and drinking. Consumers conduct a mental accounting of what they eat," Vierhile says. In their minds, if they have a diet soda, for example, that gives them the permission to have a slice of cheesecake."

Further, he notes, calories are the top consumer concern, and specific diet plans are about half as popular as portion control as a weight loss or maintenance strategy. Overall, Vierhile notes, consumers are trying to eat more healthfully and are changing the types of foods they are eating. For them, products labeled diet" are less appealing than those labeled as, say, zero," as is the current trend in beverages.

Satiety, too, is a tricky word. Consumers dont seem to understand it completely. Consumers sometimes equate satiety with feeling too full, stuffed, heavy, rundown and other negative feelings," he notes, offering hunger control" as an alternative marketing phrase.