What New Products Scored Big in Sales?
Consumers may be weighing more factors in their purchase choices, like inflation, convenience and on-shelf availability, but the novelty factor doesn’t seem to be wearing off anytime soon. That’s one conclusion from the 28th annual New Product Pacesetters report released this month by Chicago-based Circana.
According to Circana (formerly IRI and The NPD Group), the New Product Pacesetters for 2022 collectively topped $6.8 billion in aggregate first-year sales across food, beverage and nonfood categories, up from $6 million the prior year. “We think it’s especially relevant that these products were developed during the pandemic,” pointed out Joan Driggs, VP of thought leadership and content at Circana, during a recent webinar on the report’s findings. “What they thought they were solving for in 2021 was much different than what was relevant in 2022.”
[Read more: “The Most Innovative Products at IDDBA Show 2023’]
While that time frame reflected shifts in macro events and influences, the R&D period reflected other trends within the marketplace. During the webinar, Lisa Maas, principal and practice lead, innovation, at Circana, toplined those trends, which included a move toward elevated experiences at home; simplicity and sustainability through things like clean label ingredients and plant-based products; empowering self-care as part of holistic, healthy lifestyles; the move by iconic brands into new formats; and performance-boosting products that do more for consumers.
The experts at Circana also noted that the market is ripe for innovations because of the sheer activity within the grocery retail space. “We know that average foodservice costs are almost four times that of at-home costs – that absolute dollar gap is widening,” shared Maas. “In turn, CPG manufacturers are focused on innovations that meet consumer needs around taste experiences, convenient meal prep and healthy and sustainable offerings. Those were all winners this year.”
Another noteworthy takeaway of this year’s report is the pace of innovation by medium and smaller companies, which represented 51% of this year’s crop of New Product Pacesetters. Larger companies, meanwhile, rolled out fewer new products in 2022 and often focused on extensions that built on consumer trust of popular brands, such as Glad ForceFlexPlus with Clorax garbage bags from Clorox and Colliders spoonable desserts from Kraft Heinz featuring Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kit Kat and other licensed confection brands.
Circana’s list of the top 10 food and beverage New Product Pacesetters for 2022 include the following items, in descending order:
- Alani Nu energy drink
- Dr Pepper Zero Sugar carbonated beverage
- Chick-fil-A Sauces
- Truly Punch hard seltzer
- Truly Margarita Style hard seltzer
- Mtn Dew Spark carbonated beverage
- Tattooed Chef frozen entree
- Red Bull Green Edition energy drink
- Gatorlyte sports drink
- Topo Chico Hard Seltzer
The top 10 nonfood Pacesetters, according to Circana’s analysis, include these new offerings:
- BinaxNOW home health care product
- Flowflex home health care product
- Downy Light laundry care
- Quip oral care
- Dawn Ultra EZ-Squeeze dish detergent
- Mielle hair care product
- Blue Tastefuls pet food
- Crest Whitening Emulsions
- Febreze Unstopables Touch
- Huggies Special Delivery
As for what’s garnering buzz in the marketplace now, the latest New Product Pacesetters report revealed several “Rising Star” products, such as Prime Hydration energy drinks, Oreo frozen desserts from Froneri, Cheez-It Puff’d from Kellogg’s, Ninjamas diapers from Procter & Gamble and Pedigree Marrobites from Mars, among others. “We saw new products delivering with some of the same themes,” observed Maas.
