Decoding Ingredient Trends: A Data-Driven Approach to CPG Innovation

Consumer preferences speak loudest through their purchasing decisions. Nowhere is this more evident than in their shifting attitudes toward ingredients—the building blocks that have become powerful decision drivers on the shelf. 

When planning your next innovation, understanding which ingredients are gaining momentum isn’t just helpful—it’s essential for staying relevant in an increasingly competitive marketplace. 

1. Start with ingredient prevalence across departments. Begin by examining which ingredients have the highest share within your target department. This baseline understanding helps contextualize whether an ingredient represents a mainstream requirement or an emerging opportunity. 
2. Identify growth momentum through share changes. Look beyond static prevalence to understand which ingredients are gaining share faster than the category itself. This dynamic view reveals consumer preference shifts that may not yet be reflected in overall market share. 
3. Pinpoint larger trends like functional benefits. Analyze why certain ingredients are trending by understanding the functional benefits consumers associate with them. Looking upstream to highly innovative categories can reveal early insight into tomorrow’s trends in food and beverage categories.  
4. Compare differences in performance based on product positioning. Examine how ingredient trends differ between naturally positioned products and the broader market. This comparison often reveals early-stage trends before they reach mainstream adoption. 
5. Validate with channel-specific analysis. Cross-reference findings across different retail channels, particularly natural retailers, to identify the innovation pipeline that often begins in specialty channels before expanding to conventional retail. 

Walking Through the Analysis: A Practical Example 

Let’s examine how this framework plays out with real ingredient trends across categories. 

Starting with a total store view, we can immediately identify which ingredients have significant market penetration. For instance, 13% of all products contain yeast as an ingredient. This broad view establishes a baseline for understanding relative ingredient adoption rates. 

Pro Tip: Use the ingredient description feature to quickly understand unfamiliar ingredients and their functional benefits—simply click on any ingredient name for a detailed explanation. 

The real insights emerge when we rank ingredients by share points change rather than absolute share. This reveals which ingredients consumers are actively shifting toward, regardless of their current market penetration. 

In this example, adaptogens like Ashwagandha are showing strong growth, with stress reduction and mood enhancement as their primary benefits. Similarly, various mushroom ingredients are growing at 25-26% year-over-year, reflecting consumer interest in their diverse health benefits. 

Pro Tip: Use share point change to identify emerging trends before they become obvious to competitors. 

A common trend for years has been how functional benefits emerge in vitamins and supplements, migrate to beverages, and then broadly across the store. 

In this example, adaptogens like Ashwagandha are showing strong growth, with stress reduction and mood enhancement as their primary benefits. Similarly, various mushroom ingredients are growing at 25-26% year-over-year, reflecting consumer interest in their diverse health benefits. 

For example, probiotics and prebiotics have just a 2% share across all food and beverage products, but a 6-9% share within naturally positioned items. This disparity highlights how better-for-you brands often lead ingredient innovation before mainstream adoption occurs. 

Pro Tip: Look for multiple ingredients with similar functional benefits showing simultaneous growth—this pattern validates a broader consumer trend rather than an isolated ingredient preference. 

Now we can see what ingredients are trending across categories. Next, let’s break down performance across different product types.  

The analysis reveals that naturally positioned products show significantly higher adoption of trending ingredients compared to the broader market. 

This channel-specific analysis reveals that natural retailers serve as testing grounds for functional ingredients before they expand to conventional retail. Brands looking to identify tomorrow’s ingredient trends should pay particular attention to what’s gaining traction in these specialty channels today. 

Pro Tip: Track ingredient prevalence in naturally positioned products as an early indicator of future mainstream trends. 

The natural grocery channel consistently shows a higher prevalence of wellness ingredients compared to conventional channels. By pivoting your analysis between natural and conventional channels, you can assess the life cycle of an ingredient.  

Pro Tip: Use natural channel data as a predictive tool for identifying ingredient trends 12-24 months before they reach conventional retail. 

The goal isn’t chasing every ingredient trend—it’s identifying meaningful consumer preferences that align with your brand positioning and can drive sustainable growth. This analytical framework transforms scattered data points into actionable innovation insights that guide your product development from concept to shelf. 

By systematically tracking ingredient trends across departments, channels, and positioning, you can identify early-stage opportunities before competitors, validate consumer interest through actual purchasing behavior, and time market entry based on an ingredient’s position in the adoption curve. 

Remember that consumer preferences expressed through purchasing behavior provide the most reliable foundation for innovation decisions. By leveraging data-driven ingredient analysis, you’re not just following trends—you’re anticipating consumer needs and positioning your brand at the forefront of category evolution. 

Ready to uncover data-driven insights that can fuel your next successful CPG innovation? SPINS AttLab provides the advanced analytics and market intelligence you need to make informed decisions. Learn more about SPINS AttLab.