French supplement market: 12 month growth surge

The report by French market analysts Xerfi​ showed that France's supplement market grew by 48 per cent - from almost nothing - in one year. Sales of these products, from pills to patches, grew by 48 per cent in specialist stores and by 28 per cent in multiple grocers, giving combined total revenue of €105 million.

This growth vastly outweighs that in other sectors, but all manufacturers of health foods have seen an unprecedented interest in their low-fat, low-sugar or low-carbohydrate alternatives.

Growth across all these categories was driven by the launch of a raft of new products, focusing in particular on making light and diet foods more appetising to sophisticated French palates, more used to keeping trim on on the Mediterranean diet of fish, olive oil and red wine.

Rather than turning to the low-carb Atkins diet like their Anglo-Saxon neighbours, the French - for the moment at least - seem to have embraced the 'light' phenomenon.

'Diet' foods in France have traditionally been just that - products created specifically to help consumers lose weight - and the arrival of 'light' variants of popular products, low in fat or sugar, is relatively recent. So much so that Xerfi's estimate of last year's market size (€1.75 billion) does not include a number of products, such as light ready meals, soups, desserts, ice cream or pizzas, which were launched after its research was carried out.

The biggest category in the diet food market is fresh, chilled products such as yoghurts, which accounted for €688 million last year. Diet soft drinks rank second with sales of €501 million and low-fat spreads and edible oils are third with €370 million. Reflecting the relatively small size of the breakfast cereal market, healthy cereals came in a distant fourth with €136 million.

In total, sales of 'light' food products increased by 11 per cent during the year, nearly four times as much as sales of 'standard' food products, while specific diet food sales rose by 12 per cent.

However, if this growth is to be sustained - or indeed bettered - manufacturers of supplements and health foods need to resolve a number of issues, including the problem of educating a largely ignorant French public of the benefits of diet and light foods.

With a plethora of products to choose from, each promising different benefits, the trick is to ensure that consumers choose the right product to achieve the level of weight loss desired - since they are unlikely to pick the same product twice if they feel it is ineffective.

Another factor likely to impact growth in 2004 is the downturn in the French economy which has hit the mainstream food retail sector particularly hard - at the same time as benefiting the discount stores - not a market conducive to selling larger volumes of high cost, high margin diet foods.

Advertising will be the key to growth, since only those products able to convey their benefits effectively - and persuade French consumers to fork out more money for them - are likely to succeed in the long term.

Despite a traditionally fat-rich diet, just 11 per cent of French adults are obese compared to 22 per cent in Britain and an enormous third of Americans. The French also live longer and have lower death rates from heart disease, than these countries.