This report looks at the following areas:
- Usage applications of herbal ingredients
- The influence that ‘herbal ingredients’ have on consumers’ decision to choose one product over another in different food/drink categories
- Reasons for consuming food/drinks or using products with herbal ingredients
- Familiarity and interest in consuming different types of herbal ingredients in packaged food/drinks
- Attitudes towards food/drinks with herbal ingredients
Adapt traditional herbal ingredients to modern, functional products that address the specific health needs of today's Thai consumers across categories.
Rashmika Khanijou, Senior Analyst
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Key issues covered in this Report
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MARKET LANDSCAPE
- Retro rejuvenation
- Move herbal ingredients beyond the kitchen into packaged food and drinks
- Graph 1: applications of herbal ingredients, 2025
- Move herbal ingredients beyond the kitchen into packaged foods
- Herbal usage is limited, with Gen Z least engaged and older Thais most engaged
- Graph 2: repertoire of the application types that consumers use herbal ingredients, by generation, 2025
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EVOLVE ANCIENT HERBAL WISDOM INTO TARGETED FUNCTIONALITY FOR MODERN HEALTH NEEDS
- Now: herbal ingredients are deeply trusted for health, but functional understanding remains limited
- Graph 3: reasons for consuming food/drinks or using products with herbal ingredients, 2025
- Now: the comfort zone of herbal innovation is in brain, bone and immune health
- Graph 4: share of food and drink launches that contain herbal ingredients, by functional claims, 2020-25
- Now: create herbal formulations for modern ‘cognitive strain’
- Next: position herbal ingredients as key to preventing health issues related to modern lifestyles
- Next: tap into the weight management blind spot, targeting older women
- Next: highlight herbal ingredients as a key selling point for weight management
- Formulate with a mix of herbal superfoods or balanced nutrition for weight management
- Next: structure herbal ingredients around modern mental health and sleep needs
- Future: as Thailand ages, herbal innovation will shift from short-term focus to lifelong cognitive resilience
- Future: VMS with herbal blends for cognitive resilience
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EXPAND ON THE HERBAL UNIVERSE
- Now: the herbal universe is dominated by familiar, heritage-led ingredients
- Graph 5: familiarity vs interest in herbal ingredients in packaged food/drinks, 2025
- Understanding the herbal universe in Thailand
- Strategy funnel for herbal ingredients
- Now: heritage herbs create a health and sensory anchor and are primed for mass scaling
- Now: extract more value from the heritage herbs
- Ginger is poised to be the hero heritage herb for modern day energy
- Next: reposition underleveraged herbs
- Next: functional mushrooms emerge as the sole rising star, with reishi dominating the market
- Graph 6: share of functional mushroom-containing food/drink launches, by mushroom type, 2022-25
- Next: bring in other functional mushrooms with reishi for optimum daily wellness
- Next: tap into growth candidate herbs with education-led activation
- Korean ginseng shows gradual growth while moringa plateaus
- Graph 7: share of herb-containing food/drinks, by herb type, 2022-25
- Next: introduce Korean ginseng into staple formats to build its relevance in the market
- Future: herbal ingredient credibility will shift from tradition to evidence-based validation
- Future: herbal formulations with scientific fermented botanicals
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UNLOCK CATEGORY WHITE SPACE FOR HERBAL USE IN MODERN FORMATS
- Supply vs demand of herbal innovations
- Graph 8: supply vs demand for herbal ingredients in packaged food/drinks, 2025
- Now: herbal use in packaged food and drink is supply-led and conservative
- Now: established categories under pressure to reduce sodium can use herbs to protect taste
- Graph 9: consumers that would consider buying reduced sodium food/drinks that use herbs and spices to enhance flavour, by generation, 2025
- Now: dial up use of heritage herbs in reduced sodium variants for established categories
- Next: tap into the white space for herbs in modern wellness categories
- Next: use herbal ingredients to help consumers meet their health goals in modern wellness categories
- Next: engage Gen Z through ‘herbal experimentation’ in snacks
- Next: tap into growth of active lifestyles to push herbal energy in sports and energy drinks
- Future: from category silos to connected herbal ecosystems
- Future: daily herbal ecosystem
- Key takeaways
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APPENDIX
- Generations
- Consumer research methodology
- Repertoire analysis
- CHAID/decision tree analysis
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