Be creative

In its April 2014 report titled “Soup — US,” global market research firm Mintel notes that private label soup products account for a 12.2 percent dollar share and $742 million in sales. While Campbell’s Soup remains a giant in the category with its 43.8 percent dollar share, private label sales are comparable to Progresso soups, manufactured by General Mills Inc., and its 13.1 percent share. Additionally, private label sales outperform all other national soup brands. Consumers are still looking for value, and many of them perceive private label to be equal to name brands in terms of quality and flavor. But to grow store brands’ share of the market, retailers will need to make flavor, nutrition and packaging top priorities.

Diversify with flavor

With millennial consumers becoming an increasingly important purchasing demographic, soup flavors are getting more unique and more premium, states Euromonitor International, Chicago, in its December 2013 “Soup in the US” report.

Plus, a look at restaurant menus will show retailers that soup flavors are increasingly diversifying. Kelly Weikel, senior consumer research manager for Chicago-based Technomic, a foodservice consulting firm, says that about one-third of soups offered on restaurant menus are chilis, vegetable soup, chowders, Asian soups and French Onion soups. However, another one-third of all soups offered on restaurant menus are classified as “other soups,” or soups that offer flavors occurring in incidences too small to count. Often these flavors are considered to be new or “emerging.”

Weikel says retailers could take a cue from some newly emerging soup flavors. They include almond, coconut, apple and cucumber. Basil, garlic, cilantro and spicy flavors, meanwhile, have become mainstream soup flavors that can be found on many chain restaurant menus.

However, the traditional soup standbys won’t be leaving the store shelf anytime soon. Euromonitor reports that chicken noodle soup is expected to remain the most popular soup variety overall, thanks to its familiarity and use as a folk remedy for colds and the flu, while meat and vegetable soups will remain in second place, thanks to their hearty nature. And cream of mushroom, often used as the base for a variety of recipes, will also continue to be popular.

Provide healthful options

But flavor is only one part of the equation for success. Nutrition is another aspect that is very important to consumers.

“Soup is showing a lot of potential as a healthful food choice for those who are body- and diet-conscious,” says Dana McCauley, vice president of marketing for Montreal-based Plats du Chef Foods. “Soup can be very nutritious, as well as low-fat and low-calorie.”

Mintel states that 89 percent of respondents to a February 2014 Internet survey it conducted are interested in a soup with a full serving or more of vegetables, while 79 percent expressed an interest in soups with added vitamins and minerals or soups that are high in fiber.

And 76 percent of respondents are interested in all-natural/organic soup ingredients.

This interest in organic is no surprise to Bob Sewall, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Blount Fine Foods, Fall River, Mass.

“Organics have been our fastest-growing foodservice soups for the last few years, and retail deli managers have been moving this way more and more because of how easy hot-to-go organic soups are to merchandise,” he says.

Driving this organic and all-natural soup trend could be consumers’ desire for clean ingredient decks.

“Consumers want to know that their soup was made with fresh vegetables and that it is minimally processed,” McCauley says. “Consumers don’t want a long list of chemical ingredients on the label.”

But perhaps one of the biggest problems interfering with soup’s health halo is salt. Per Mintel, eight in 10 respondents are interested in low-sodium soups.

“Soups are sodium,” says Rob Wagner, vice president of U.S. sales for Mondiv Foods, a Boisbriand, Quebec-based division of Lassonde Specialties Inc. “Soup tastes good because it’s salty — so you have to find that fine line between taste and health.”

While many brands offer low-sodium soup options, they do run the risk of consumers perceiving the soup as lacking flavor, Mintel says. To counteract this issue, the company recommends focusing on other spices such as curry or rosemary in low-sodium soups.

Switch up the packaging

Gone are the days when soup came in a can only. Now, paperboard cartons and plastic pouches are popping up regularly in the soup aisle. And while innovation in packaging can attract shoppers’ attention, retailers might want to set some limits here, especially when looking to other countries for inspiration.

In Canada, for example, fresh chilled soups are sold in mini milk cartons, mason jars, resealable gusseted bags and traditional retail cups, says Paul Currie, director, BDT — Deli, at Daymon Worldwide, Stamford, Conn. While there have been several attempts to introduce resealable gusseted bags to the United States, U.S. consumers have not been very accepting of it.

Retailers might also want to keep in mind that consumers want packaging that will allow them to take soup with them on the go, McCauley says. Disposable bowls and microwavable cups fitted with sipping caps have proved to be very popular in the shelf-stable single-serve market.

Mintel reports that close to half of respondents it surveyed believe more soups should be available in resealable packaging, something else for retailers to consider.

Capture consumers’ attention

When it comes to marketing, Kim Hannaford, director of marketing for Morgan Foods Inc., Austin, Ind., recommends that retailers avoid focusing on price alone.

“Quality ingredients are vital and require a certain level of cost commitment. This level of quality helps to build the brand identity and support repeat purchases,” he says. “If the taste is hit [or] miss, repeat purchases will decline.”

Store brand soup opportunities also lie in innovations that address the unmet culinary and dietary needs of consumers, he adds.

And don’t forget: Tasting is believing, McCauley says. She advises retailers to sample, sample and then sample some more.

Retailers also could create a program in the deli or prepared foods section that offers consumers a soup and salad or a soup and sandwich combination, Sewall says. It’s a fairly easy way to capture their attention and deliver perceived value.

Plus, retailers should think about where they could merchandise soups in other sections of the store, Currie says. For example, there is an enormous potential opportunity to merchandise fresh seafood soups such as clam chowder, lobster bisque, and shrimp and sausage gumbos in the seafood department.

“Seafood soups are going to sell better in the department where consumers are looking for seafood items,” he says.