wn. In the past experts talked of opportunities in the health food segment, but their visions were scaled down and the watchword appeared to be caution. Caution has been disregarded with the onslaught of natural foods in the retailer mainstream.
Successful new product development requires customer orientation, effective coordination (synergy) of developmental and marketing efforts, and a resulting product with unique and superior features. In addition to manufacturers, supermarkets have initiated new consumer programs to better satisfy the needs of health-conscious consumers. Systematic development procedures can help to ensure success. Such procedures include (in addition to the above mentioned analyses) societal analysis, market testing, and product introduction through target markets.
Health foods are specialty markets in that people will go out of their way, if necessary, to acquire health food items. This is indicative of a growing target market as the population expands and changes in composition, as incomes and prices rise, as educational levels advance, as more women enter the labor force, as people move and as lifestyles are altered. These demographic (Kuczmarski, 1988) forces as well as changing values and related environmental dynamics have a profound influence on markets and their purchasing behavior.
The flavor is irrelevant, selling health is what matters (Toufexis, 1989). All sorts of Americans are eating health foods to cut intake of salt, preservatives, cholesterol, fats, as well as refined sugars. More and more consumers fear their health is threatened by the foods they eat. Some of these people are health conscious because of recent publicity about cancer causing chemicals like alar in vegetables and fruits while others intend to optimize performance in sports. There are, of course, other reasons for adopting nutrition and health practices, these are but
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