Consumer demand for healthy items and product transparency continues to shape the food and beverage marketplace. Gladson (gladson.com), the leading provider of digital product content and related services for the consumer goods industry, releases new data highlighting the rise of health-related claims on product packaging.

With the Gladson E-Commerce Database featuring over 600,000 items and thousands of products being added and updated each week, the company sees firsthand how shopper behavior is impacting product trends. Based on its database, Gladson announces these findings:

·       From 2013 to 2015, Gladson’s database had a 61% increase in items marked gluten-free.

·       During the 2013 to 2015 timeframe, the database experienced a 77% increase in items labeled organic.

·       Allergen claims were also on the rise, with the database having a 43% increase in items with allergen claims from 2013 to 2015.

“Consumers today are more discerning about the products they buy, and their criteria continues to evolve,” says Susan Sentell, Gladson CEO and president. “It’s the responsibility of brands, retailers and solution providers like Gladson to ensure that shoppers have the information they need to select products that align with their health, wellness and lifestyle needs.”

As Sentell mentioned, the factors influencing shoppers’ purchases are undergoing a transformation. According to a new study by Deloitte, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), 51% of Americans are looking at factors such as health and wellness and transparency as food purchase drivers, in addition to traditional factors such as taste and price.

“In the complex and competitive grocery aisle, consumers have more product options available to them,” says Sentell. “To earn customer loyalty and sales, manufacturers and retailers need to provide accurate and expanded product information via traditional avenues such as the product package, and on digital platforms, such as websites and mobile apps.”

To help brands and retailers meet shoppers’ expectations, Gladson’s product content database offers a complete digital representation of each product, including high-resolution images and over 200 product attributes, such as nutrition facts, ingredients, allergens, weights and dimensions, warnings and marketing claims.

Gladson is also supporting various industry initiatives that promote product information transparency, including GMA’s SmartLabel™. With SmartLabel, consumers will have instantaneous access to detailed information about thousands of products by scanning a bar code or doing an online search. Gladson customers can have their product content created, hosted and delivered in accordance with the SmartLabel program requirements.