Putting a premium on substance over style

UK - Food producers are flogging the term ‘premium’ for all it’s worth, threatening to flood a market that relies on exclusivity for its success with well-packaged tat.

Consumers, we're told, are more affluent these days. They require something for the weekend, something special, an indulgence at a respectably jacked up price.

And boy do they get it. Over 25,640 new food products were launched in the UK last year, with a staggering 4,365 of them claiming to be premium. That's nearly a fifth.

In the UK, food manufacturers have really gone to town. Nearly half of the 1,519 new food products launched last year were premium.

Statistics like this suggest that premium is becoming a devalued term. It doesn't make sense to have half of all new products designated as premium.

And eventually the façade is exposed. That fabulous little box of chocolates, tied with a little bow and personalised with a gold-edged card, promises decadence and luxury.

But if the product does not deliver, then the sublime façade of premium quickly loses its lustre. The consumer is unlikely to buy that product again, not for himself or for anybody else.

An all too familiar tale of misfortune, courtesy of some quick buck thinking marketers, cashing in on the run away train that is the premium trend - premium being the term for a higher price justified by fancy packaging and big budget brand building.

Source: foodnavigator.com