Make sweet sales

Sugar and sweeteners are in a period of decline as consumers show growing concern over health risks. In fact, Mintel, a global market research firm, shows that sugar sales have been on a downslide for about three years now. But natural sweeteners such as honey and pure maple syrup are primed to take up that space. For example, Mintel’s May report titled “Sugar and Alternative Sweeteners — US” notes that honey sales have been increasing since at least 2009.

“After facing several years of declines, the category is expected to remain fairly flat moving forward as declines in sugar and substitutes are offset by growth in honey and emerging plant-based and other low-calorie sweeteners,” the report states. “Although it represents the smallest market share, honey was the only segment to experience growth benefitting from positive health and natural perceptions.”

Honey showed strong growth in the last year, especially on the store brand side, according to data from Information Resources Inc. (IRI), a Chicago-based market research firm. Overall, dollar sales of honey rose 9.5 percent to reach almost $540 million for the 52-week period ending May 17. Dollar sales of store brand honey increased 10.5 percent to reach more than $268 million. (See the table, p.48.)

But many syrup products didn’t fare as well in year-over-year sales. IRI data show dollar sales in the overall syrup/molasses category down — about 1.5 percent overall and 0.3 percent for store brands — during the 52 weeks ending May 17. Fruit-flavored syrups were a bright spot, with overall dollar sales down 0.5 percent, but store brands up by 18.2 percent.

Natural alternatives

Emma Marvin, director of marketing for Butternut Mountain Farm, Morrisville, Vt., says that pure maple syrup could be doing much better among consumers as an alternative sweetener. One issue potentially hurting the category is that many people link pure maple syrup to maple-flavored pancake and waffle syrups, which are chock full of sugar and (usually) high-fructose corn syrup.

“Pure maple syrup is a premium product in a category with a lot of imitators,” she says. “The challenge is showing people that there is a single-ingredient product that is an alternative to the other products out there.”

Jacques Letourneau, senior vice president of business development and marketing for Bernard and Sons in Quebec, says parents especially would be interested in maple syrup as an alternative sweetener if given more information.

“The segment of the market that wants to give their kids healthier sweeteners — those people will be happy with the ingredient list. There’s one ingredient on it — maple syrup,” Letourneau says.

The Mintel report backs up the importance of natural ingredients in the category.

“Focusing on products’ natural qualities may resonate with consumers and help alleviate sugar-related health concerns,” the report states. “When purchasing sugar or sugar substitutes, natural ingredients is one of the most important factors consumers consider.”

Mintel also says that about a quarter of households with children would be willing to pay more for natural sweeteners. That’s double the number of households without children that would pay a premium. But more than half of households without children wish there were more natural sugar substitutes on the market. And in households with children, that number jumps to 72 percent.

Inform consumers

“With concerns about artificial ingredients in sugar substitutes, many consumers are willing to spend more on products touting natural properties,” the report states.

However, there is ample confusion among consumers as to what constitutes a natural sweetener and how those sweeteners are made. According to the Mintel report, about a quarter of survey respondents do not know whether or not certain alternative sweeteners are natural.

“Consumer education about these types of sweeteners, whether on package, on marketing materials or elsewhere, is vital for alleviating these concerns,” Mintel states. “About two-thirds of sweetener users agree there are so many types of sweeteners, it’s hard to know the difference between them.”

Karen Jurkowski, senior market development manager for Bee Maid Honey Ltd. in Winnipeg, Manitoba, says labeling can help. She points to organic positioning as a way to push honey sales.

“We’ve seen a lot of trends come in and go out over the years, but organic is still increasing,” Jurkowski says.

Marvin says organic maple syrup can also be seen as a deal.

“It’s a good value for the consumer. It’s easy to move up from maple syrup to organic maple syrup without hitting the pocketbook too much,” she says.

Michele Hoskins, CEO of Michele Foods in South Holland, Ill., adds that maple syrup can benefit from certain health trends.

“All maple syrup is gluten-free, but it doesn’t hurt to put it on the label,” she says.

Another thing that labels can communicate to consumers is a change in the maple syrup grading scale. In the past, syrups were marked as Grade A or Grade B, which had to do with only how dark the syrup was. Now, a new scale will rate syrups as golden, amber, dark or very dark.

“In the short-term, there needs to be some communication to consumers to tell them what they’re purchasing,” Marvin says.

Letourneau also suggests making recipe cards or including recipes in promotional materials to show how syrup and honey can be used in baked goods and other recipes as alternative sweeteners.

No spills

Honey and syrup can be expensive, making spills costly to consumers. They also can produce a sticky mess, sometimes making the bottle a hassle to use.

To help resolve the spill issue, Marvin says Butternut Mountain Farm’s syrups have moved to a silicone valve, much like in some ketchup bottles, that immediately stops the flow of product once the user stops squeezing.

“You really have the ability to control the portions and to avoid the stickiness,” she says.

Letourneau says retailers would also do well to invest in larger bottle sizes for store brand maple syrup. For years, most syrup has retailed in 8.5-ounce, 12.5-ounce and 32-ounce bottles. Lately, the 12.5-ounce size has been the largest seller, he says.

If there is a choice of a size to drop, he recommends dropping the smallest one.

“Since it is a more expensive product, people see it as a mistake to go with the smaller size,” Letourneau says.

He adds that the largest size will have to come with a smaller profit margin. He says the club stores sell those sizes on much smaller margins, making them a bargain for consumers. Jurkowski also suggests looking to plastic, which is becoming more popular in the category.

“Glass is heavy, and there is a freight component to that,” she says.

But for pure maple syrup, Letourneau suggests keeping the tiny bottle handles, if possible. Many consumers see those as a tradition with maple syrup.

“A customer walking down the aisle sees those little handles and knows they’ve found the maple syrup,” he says.