For brands trying to decide what their next beverage innovation should be, they should start by understanding what shoppers are looking for. If you’re deciding which calorie-free sweetener should go into your next product innovation, SPINS’ shopper-centric attributes can be helpful.

With more than 250 individual shopper-centric attributes based on an exhaustive review of nutrition fact panels, and ingredient statements, SPINS brings a unique point of view to the conversation. We layer attributes data on top of our market analytics to give a deeper understanding of what trends are emerging for beverage sweeteners. In this case, we can look at a year’s worth of sales across multioutlet, convenience, and natural enhanced categories to understand the market landscape.

Doing so reveals two attractive options to consider. While beverages with stevia only saw a 2.7% increase during a 52-week period, drinks with monk fruit as the sweetener experienced 11.2% growth in that same period. However, beverages sweetened with both stevia and monk fruit grew 13.5% in sales.

Shopper-centric attributes bring a depth to the conversation that sales figures can lack if looked at in a vacuum. In this case, stevia on its own does not deliver anywhere near the same results as the other two options. You might decide using both will reach the widest audience, or perhaps only relying on monk fruit makes more sense considering your current product offerings, long-term goals, and brand positioning. Regardless of what you choose, you have a holistic view of shopper habits and emerging trends that you won’t find anywhere else.