This report provides a comprehensive look at the changing landscape of Thai consumer preferences and market dynamics. It reveals key insights into demographic shifts reshaping Thai functional solutions, highlighting how urban lifestyles impact poor living habits. Thai consumers increasingly prefer food and drink products with added health benefits, even at a premium.
A significant focus is on health concerns, particularly the rise in eye health awareness and the importance of gut health in Asia. It also discusses the impact of new nutrition labeling, effective July 2024, to simplify consumer understanding and enhance transparency.
Emerging trends like hormonal regulation and hydration are identified as the new wave in wellness, offering fresh opportunities for innovation. The report emphasises the role of healthcare professionals in validating product efficacy, building consumer trust.
Businesses and marketers can use these insights to refine strategies, align products with consumer demands, and target the Thai market effectively. This report is essential for navigating the dynamic functional food and drink sector in Thailand.
This report looks at the following areas:
- Segmentation of functional food and drink consumers
- Appealing health benefits
- Purchase decision drivers
- Innovative product trends
- Trusted information sources
Tap into the new wellness wave of hormonal regulation and hydration, and explore different segments of functional food and drink users to effectively meet their preferences.
Phurisa Phagudom, Research Analyst – Food and Drink, Thailand
Market Definitions
For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
This report examines the market for functional food and drinks in the Thai market. Functional food and drinks can be described as below.
Functional food and drinks: Functional food and drinks are whole, fortified, enriched or enhanced food/drinks that provide health benefits beyond the provision of essential nutrients (eg vitamins and minerals), when they are consumed at efficacious levels as part of a varied diet on a regular basis.
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Executive SUMMAry
- Mintel’s perspective
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Overview
- The outlook for functional food and drink in Thailand
- The urban lifestyle brings health challenges, leading consumers to turn to functional solutions for assistance
- The new wellness wave is spotlighting the growing opportunity in hormonal regulation and hydration
- Healthcare professional endorsements are perceived as the most important indicator of efficacy
- Passionate Sceptics are ideal targets for functional food and drink
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KEY TRENDS
- What you need to know
- Urban lifestyles lead to unhealthy living habits
- Modern lifestyles affect eye health due to excessive screen time
- Triple trouble: eye strain is accompanied by head and back pain
- Food and drink brands in APAC lead the way in encouraging eye health awareness
- Graph 1: proportion of food, drink and supplement launches that include an eye health claim, by region, 2021-24
- Gut health problems are prevalent among urban dwellers, yet not everyone is prepared to pay a premium for solutions
- Consuming a variety of plants is the key to a healthy ageing gut
- Over-55s in Asia are especially motivated by gut health
- Graph 2: extent to which gut health benefits would motivate over-55s to buy healthy food, by market, 2024*
- Shifting demographics are shaping health demands and solutions in functional food and drink
- Mintel’s 2024 Global Food and Drink Trend: Age Reframed
- Thai consumers are embracing ageing
- Health-consciousness drives nutrition and health functionality as strong indicators of value
- Graph 3: product preference, by product category, 2023
- Convenient sips: functional beverages continue to lead food categories due to convenience
- Graph 4: functional food and drink launches, by category, 2021-24
- Graph 5: functional food and drink launches, by functional claim, 2021-24
- New nutrition labelling regarding functional food and drinks prompts more changes for brands
- Staying informed about nutritional value is a key product selection habit for Thais
- New nutrition labelling regulation in 2024
- Utilisation of ‘potassium claim’ in nutrition labelling to enhance product value
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what consumers want and why
- What you need to know
- The wellness wave
- The big market: the demands for brain, eye, and energy health benefits are increasingly prominent, driven by the pressures of urban lifestyles
- Graph 6: functional food and drinks taken in the last three months, 2024
- While baby food and dairy products dominate the brain-boosting market, these claims are notably rising in Thai snack foods
- Graph 7: % of brain health boosting functional food and drink launches, by category, 2021-24
- Food and drinks across categories may attempt to boost cognitive and brain health with scientifically proven functional ingredients
- Help over-55s stay psychologically sharp
- Enhance eye health by addressing specific issues such as night vision and strain from screen time
- Potential growth categories for eye health claims
- Promote energy boosts to alleviate the drain of urban lifestyles
- Generational wellness priorities: Gen Z places a greater emphasis on beauty enhancement, whereas Gen X prioritises digestive health
- Attract young Thais with functional beauty benefits
- Graph 8: usage and interest in beauty-enhancing functional food and drinks, by generation, 2024
- Gen Z women worry about hair loss and UV rays, while both genders are interested in teeth whitening
- Graph 9: innovation of interest in functional food and/or drink, by gender and generation, 2024 2024
- Incorporate targeted beauty benefits in product offerings for Gen Z
- Combine aesthetic advantages with cognitive wellbeing to optimise reach
- Offer products coupling beauty and cognitive enhancement benefits
- Gut-health benefits can be incorporated into various functional options, especially to attract older consumers
- Include digestive health benefits in conventional food options to normalise and promote long-term necessity
- Among older consumers, fibre is currently still more effective for targeting gut health than probiotics
- Graph 10: what over-55s adults would consume if looking to ensure digestive/gut health, by ingredient(s), 2023 *
- Promote varieties of fibre-rich, gut-boosting plant-based products to target the older generations
- Synbiotics: promising ingredient for enhancing gut health
- Graph 11: interest in digestive-supporting functional food and drinks, by generation, 2024
- Leverage synbiotics to market beyond functional ingredients
- New wellness wave: women seek for hormonal regulation benefits
- Graph 12: usage and interest in hormone-regulating functional food and drinks, by generation, 2024
- Include menopause benefits in tea for women’s health
- PCOS/PCOD product innovations
- New wellness wave: hydration emerges as a mass-market opportunity
- Graph 13: usage of or interest in functional food and drinks in the last three months, 2024
- Boost hydration needs with both conventional and innovative formats
- Promote the health benefits of healthy ‘everyday hydration’
- Effective endorsements
- Consumers choose functional foods much like conventional ones, with efficacy being a secondary consideration
- Graph 14: important factors when buying functional food and/or drink products, 2024
- Support products with scientific evidence to enhance effectiveness and credibility
- Graph 15: convincing features of health benefits in functional food and/or drink, 2024
- Market with healthcare professionals to increase credibility for brands
- Thai health professionals are expanding their online presence, to guide consumers in making informed food and drink choices
- Include healthcare descriptors in product names to boost healthcare appeal
- Advocate nutrition synergy: high content of ingredients does not mean superiority
- Promote nutrient synergy as a prominent feature for natural offerings
- Clear consumption instructions will further enhance efficacy
- Graph 16: convincing features of health benefits in functional food and/or drink, by those who select efficacy as an important purchase factor, 2024 2024
- Show proof of progress and demonstrate measurable results
- Sustainability trails behind in purchase decision
- Consumer segmentation
- Functional food and drink consumers: a segmentation
- Passionate Sceptic (33%)
- The Passionate Sceptic demographics
- Cost-conscious Apathetic (34%)
- The Cost-conscious Apathetic demographics
- Nutritional Enthusiast (33%)
- The Nutritional Enthusiast demographics
- Focus on Passionate Sceptics, who dominate among the daily users
- Graph 17: frequency of consumption, by segment, 2024
- Passionate Sceptics see the most value in convenience of functional food and drinks
- Graph 18: consumers who ‘strongly agree’ with statements about functional food and/or drinks, by segment, 2024
- Aim for seamless integration: Passionate Sceptics see functional food and drinks as enhancements, not replacements for other health solutions
- Graph 19: prioritisation of monthly spending, by consumer segment, 2024
- Passionate Sceptics are functional fans, but they are sceptical about it too
- Graph 20: consumers who ‘strongly agree’ with statements about functional food and/or drinks, by consumer segment, 2024
- Feed the Passionate Skeptics with innovative functional food and drinks
- Graph 21: respondents who answer ‘strongly’ agree with statements about functional food and/or drinks, by segment, 2024
- Examples of functional food and drinks with packaging innovations
- Alcoholic beverages formulated for before bedtime consumption
- Address relaxation and stress-relief in alcoholic drinks
- Enhance product appeal with traditional formulations
- Graph 22: convincing features of health benefits in functional food and/or drinks, by segment, 2024
- The majority of Thais are willing to spend on a range of herbal ingredients, except for CBD
- Graph 23: awareness of Thai herbal ingredients and potential to purchase food and drink products that contain them, 2022
- Innovate with traditional herbal infusions
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Appendix
- Report definition
- Consumer research methodology
- TURF analysis
- Segmentation: target groups/clusters
- Social data research methodology
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