Lynn Dornblaser
DANA POINT, Calif. — Consumers are trying so many different types of sweeteners that companies at all levels of the sugar business would be wise to have a conversation with consumers, a prominent trends analyst said at the International Sweetener colloquium, a meeting run by the Sweetener Users Association.

“Consumers aren’t scared of sugar, they’re only scared of too much sugar, so offer a meaningful reduction without sacrificing taste,” said Lynn Dornblaser, the director of innovation and insight in the Chicago office of Mintel, a global research company based in London.

The most successful future products, she said, may be blends that reduce the amount of sugar but do not eliminate it completely.

“Even if you are two, three, four steps away from the consumer, I would say it is a good idea to figure out how you can get involved in the conversation,” she said.

In 2013, she added, 4.5 percent of product introductions worldwide were related to claims of low-, no- or reduced-sugar consumption, but those products varied dramatically from country to country.

Consumers who want to lose weight or are concerned about their health struggle with how much sugar they should eat because they “equate low sugar with low taste,” she said.

Taste is the consumer’s No. 1 issue in deciding what to eat, Dornblaser said, followed by whether a food satisfies the appetite, whether the price is good, whether the brand is one the consumer trusts, whether the food helps with health issues, whether it is all natural, whether it is locally made or organic and finally whether it is trendy.

Consumers view sugar as a “natural” product, which is a positive, and they are divided over whether it is a processed product or not, she said.

Dornblaser said one of the most interesting product introductions is Coca Cola Life, a product that uses stevia as a sweetener and is sold so far only in Argentina.

Coca Cola Life has a green label, which marks the first time that the Coca Cola company has tried anything other than the red label on Coke.

Pepsi Next in France has 30 percent less sugar but no artificial sweeteners and has done quite well in the marketplace, she said.

Powerful Yogurt, a high-protein Greek yogurt, has tried to market itself to men using a package that feels like well-developed abdominal muscles, she noted.

“Consumers are all about local if the price is the same as other [products],” she said.

Noting that Americans spend a smaller percentage of their income on food than consumers in other countries, giving them more money to spend on other things, Dornblaser said that there are “positives” to that, but also a negative.

“Consumers in the United States have a focus on the food being cheap rather than the highest quality,” Dorblaser said. “That is different in some other parts of the world.”

• Sweeteners and Consumer Trends