Parents are seeking to meet new needs for teenagers beyond learning and health, and teens' consciousness of health issues is also starting to blossom. The market demand for teenager-targeted health products has not yet been fully met, leaving white space for brands to capture.
Catherine Liu, Principal Analyst, China Insights
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Executive summary
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Definition
- What you need to know
- The market
- Market factors
- Companies and brands
- Marketing activities
- New product trends
- Examples of products that reflect these trends
- The consumer
- Families show strong interest in adolescent health
- Graph 1: health focus, 2023
- A new mission for brands: building a teenage nutrition content system
- Graph 2: channels to learn about teenager nutrition, 2023
- Optimise the nutrition learning experience based on teenagers' health needs
- Graph 3: barriers to learning/practice, 2023
- Brands need to make parents aware of the importance of proteins and minerals
- Graph 4: nutrient needs, 2023
- Packaged snacks and cooking innovations add variety to teenage diets
- Graph 5: ways to receive nutrition, 2023
- A new vision for brands: go beyond learning and health to explore sports and lifestyle occasions
- Graph 6: food/drink/health supplement product features that attract parents, 2023
- Issues and insights
- What we think
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The market
- Market factors
- The teenage population looks set to rise and then fall
- Graph 7: population aged 0-19 (%), 2018-22
- Parents pay most attention to their children's mental wellbeing during the teenage years
- Graph 8: most important parenting goals, by age of children under 18 in household, 2020
- Teenagers are mentioned in multiple local Chinese government plans for sports consumption
- The new dietary reference intake recommendations further subdivide adolescent age groups
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Companies and brands
- Marketing activities
- Teenagers are becoming part of 'whole-family nutrition' product positioning
- Enhance public goodwill in teen nutrition space by regularly holding education events in schools
- Some brands are paying attention to teenagers' psychological nourishment…
- … while others are paying attention to professionals working closely with teens
- New product trends
- Products with teenager claims are surfacing
- Milk powder and liquid milk/ambient dairy products are the main categories targeting teenagers, but annual volume sales growth has slowed
- Innovations around teenagers' sports needs are starting to emerge
- Calcium, iron, zinc and vitamin D remain classic ingredients in teen supplements, with products claiming to boost immunity and promote growth rapidly increasing volume sales
- Graph 9: [no title]
- More precisely targeted pro-growth ingredients are attracting attention
- Ingredient upgrades boost bioactivity effectiveness
- China and foreign markets: providing nutritional support for teenagers' mental wellbeing
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The consumer
- Health concerns
- Brands can stimulate family spending on teenagers' health through height, eyesight and brain health
- Graph 10: health focus, 2023
- Posture adjustments, emotional wellbeing support and weight management can attract higher-income families
- Graph 11: health concerns – both my kid(s) and I care, by monthly household income, 2023
- Views of health needs differ between teens and their parents
- Graph 12: health concerns – my kid(s) care but I don't, 2023
- Channels for learning about teenagers' nutrition
- Brands should actively develop teenage nutrition content systems
- Graph 13: channels to learn about teenager nutrition, % of consumers – repertoire analysis, 2023
- Graph 14: channels to learn about teenager nutrition, 2023
- Collaborations between food and drink and pharmaceutical brands will achieve more with half the effort
- Graph 15: select channels to learn about teenager nutrition – cross-tabulation, 2023
- Multigenerational families require more channels to satisfy their curiosity
- Graph 16: channels to learn about teenager nutrition, by living situation, 2023
- Parents may be unconcerned about teens being overweight/obese due to limited information
- Graph 17: proportion of parents who have not learned any knowledge about teenage nutrition, by concern about being overweight/obese, 2023
- Barriers to learning/practice
- Most parents don't lack the time and perseverance to learn about teenage nutrition…
- Graph 18: barriers to learning/practice, % of consumers – repertoire analysis, 2023
- Graph 19: barriers to learning/practice, 2023
- …except younger and middle/high income parents
- Graph 20: barriers to learning/practice – lacking time to learn, by parents' age, 2023
- Graph 21: barriers to learning/practice – lacking convenient communication platforms (a), by monthly household income, 2023
- Multigenerational families are more eager to gain knowledge beneficial to teenagers' overall health
- Graph 22: barriers to learning/practice – lacking multidimensional knowledge, by living situation, 2023
- Parents who are unconcerned about skin problems are generally less knowledgeable about the specific benefits of nutrients
- Graph 23: barriers to learning/practice – unsure which nutrients are suitable for my kid's current health needs, by concern about skin problems, 2023
- Examples of communications for teen nutrition products targeting skin health
- Parents possibly struggle to give their full attention to their children's physical and emotional wellbeing due to lack of time
- Graph 24: barriers to learning/practice – lacking time to learn, by select health concerns, 2023
- Nutrient needs
- The rising need for protein and minerals must be taken seriously
- Graph 25: nutrient needs, 2023
- Multigenerational families are relatively relaxed about children's specific nutrient intake
- Graph 26: select nutritional needs, by living situation, 2023
- Parents who say their children are concerned about skin problems want more animal protein in their children's diet
- Graph 27: select nutritional needs – plans to give kid(s) more amount of nutrients, by health areas that kid(s) care about but parents don't, 2023
- Food intake methods
- Innovations in packaged snacks and cooking products are important for increasing the variety of nutrition teenagers consume
- Nutrients in dairy products can be easily replaced by health supplements
- Graph 28: ways to receive nutrition, 2023
- Parents with middle to high incomes are more inclined to replace their teenage children's dairy product intake with dietary supplements (including milk powder)
- Graph 29: select barriers to learning/practice, by ways to receive nutrition from milk and dairy products, 2023
- Graph 30: ways to receive nutrition from milk and dairy products – taking additional dietary supplements (a), by monthly household income, 2023
- Multigenerational families are more likely to purchase packaged snacks and drinks
- Graph 31: ways to receive nutrition – additional purchase of assorted packaged snacks (a) and drinks (b), by living situation, 2023
- Food/drink/health supplement product features that attract parents
- Besides study occasions and specific health needs, sports occasions are also worthy of brands' attention
- Graph 32: food/drink/health supplement product features that attract parents, 2023
- Illuminating the special benefits of proteins is key to enhancing parents' awareness of teenage dietary protein intake
- Graph 33: food/drink/health supplement product features that attract parents – specially designed for specific health needs (b), by animal protein (c) nutrient needs, 2023
- Graph 34: food/drink/health supplement product features that attract parents – specially designed for a specific age group, by nutritional needs for plant protein (c), 2023
- Parents in different city tiers show more interest in different product features
- Graph 35: food/drink/health supplement product features that attract parents – specially designed for kid's social needs (a), by city tier, 2023
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Issues and insights
- Include teenagers in 'whole-family nutrition' product series to widen parents' choice of teenage nutrition products
- Teenagers, adults and older people have certain health commonalities
- It's time to include teens in 'whole-family nutrition' product positionings
- Whole-family nutrition doesn't have to be about nutrition only: indulgent ways of eating and multipronged approaches to health education can also resonate
- Create nutritional products that target teenagers' physical needs to capture an untapped market
- Product innovations that address teenagers' sports and physical training needs are in their infancy
- Sports nutrition brands can enhance product appeal by boosting the ability to learn and participate in interests and hobbies
- Graph 36: select food/drink/health supplement product features that attract parents, by awareness of physical fitness issues (a), 2023
- Products and marketing examples that reflect the above
- New ground for traditional dairy products: tap into the surprising power of protein to help during exam season
- Parents lack widespread awareness of the importance of dietary protein during the teenage growth stage
- Traditional dairy products need to tap into the unique skillset of each member of the protein family to boost parents' interest in buying
- Traditional dairy products can also try to make product positionings more relevant to needs during exam periods (eg relieving stress during exams)
- Graph 37: food/drink/health supplement product features that attract parents – specially designed to meet the needs during exam period (a), by select ways to receive nutrition from milk and dairy products, 2023
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Appendix – methodology and abbreviations
- Methodology
- Abbreviations
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