Functional Beverages Market

Market Overview

Advances in nutrition, microbiology, food engineering, and biochemistry are enabling manufacturers to formulate innovative nutritious beverages. As a result of which, functional beverages are increasingly becoming an essential part of diet, especially among health-conscious consumers. Consumers are strictly following various diets including, vegan, and keto. Their inclination towards maintaining good health despite living a hectic lifestyle is making ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages a popular choice. The global functional beverages market will exhibit an impressive CAGR over the coming years.

Going forward, millennial consumers are showing great preference for convenience food and beverages that promise umpteen nutrition profile. Moreover, the trend of gyms and fitness training is flourishing - from accessories, and diets, to training services. Manufacturers are leveraging these trends by innovating their product offerings, for instance, vegan and plant-based beverages. Moreover, nootropic drinks are also gaining prominence among the health-conscious consumers. Such innovations will transform the global functional beverage market in the near future.

Avoiding Lawsuits - Key to Long-term Success

Functional beverages are carefully crafted, RTD products distributed in varied flavors. Many manufacturers use packaging and labelling for advertising ingredients and nutritional value by marketing their products as healthy, vegan, or plant-based. However, governments are taking legal actions against the miss-representation of the nutritional value of functional food and beverages. For instance, drinks containing cannabinoids cannot be marketed as medicinal products. Lenny & Larry’s nutritious cookies have been subjected to such lawsuits, wherein the protein value of the product was wrongly represented.

Functional beverage manufacturers, as such, are striving to avoid such lawsuits as well as, enhancing their product transparency. Leading manufacturers are employing dedicated teams to strategize law-abiding marketing plans that ensure proper representation of functional beverage products. Further regulatory approvals for unique ingredients, packaging & labelling laws issued by statutory authorities such as the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) are working in favor of functional beverages market.

Manufacturers to Focus on M&As to Sustain Competition from New Entrants

In the recent past, the function food & beverage market has seen many new entrants. The proliferation of niche brands backed by intensive digital marketing is successfully paving way for new product categories, thus stiffening the market competition.  Initiatives such as the Amazon Accelerator Program and Springboard from Kraft Heinz and General Mills’ 301 INC scout new and upcoming retail brands and guide businesses towards a positive trajectory. As a response to the situation, major players are acquiring such start-ups and small enterprises through such initiatives. Kraft Heinz’ acquisition of Primal Kitchen, is a result of diligent scouting by Springboard, the giants’ incubation initiative. Further, PepsiCo also acquired Health Warrior, a US-based nutrition-centered company

Functional Beverages Market: Region Wise Analysis

North America continues to lead the pack in the global functional beverages market. Growing awareness of nutrition-focused diets, especially among millennial, is significantly contributing to regional market growth. Consumers in the US and Canada are strictly following health-conscious diets, which include functional beverages. Moreover, prevalence of e-Commerce platforms in the APAC is attracting huge stakeholders’ attention. Booming digitization, coupled with the convenience of e-Commerce platforms in developing countries such as India is offering a conducive ground for functional beverage manufacturers.

Functional Beverages Market: Competitive Landscape

The functional beverages market is highly fragmented with the presence of many small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Players are striving to gain competitive edge by developing functional beverages with varied nutritional value. Hence, significant players in the market are investing heavily in R&D, and mergers & acquisitions (M&A). Companies that understand consumers’ preference in different regions will fare well in marketplace. For instance, “energy shots”, small quantities of nutritious drinks are prevalent in Japan, whereas, in India and China, large value packs attract more customers. As such, product innovation, and evolving consumer patterns will influence the growth strategies of market players.

Region-wise Analysis

• North America (U.S., Canada)
• Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Spain)
• Easter Europe (Poland, Russia)
• Asia Pacific (India, China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia)
• The Middle East & North Africa (GCC Countries, Turkey, North Africa countries)
• Rest of the World (Rest of the world including Latin America, South Africa, and Oceania)

Report Highlights

The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides an in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies