Trend Analysis

Looming health consequences from the obesity epidemic, especially on the lower
and middle income classes of America, has led to greater emphasis on exploring the
causes, solutions, and overall, feasible weight management plan (Popkin, Adair &
Ng, 2012). Upon examining the issue closely, health experts found the primary
causes to be the negative influence of external factors ranging from production
technology, food supply, and economic problem to healthy policies. Of these
detrimental factors, an unhealthy food environment is concurred by Chandon and
Wansink (2012), Tomer (2013), and Popkin et al. (2012) to be the main cause of our
current prevalent state of obesity. Concurrently, there has been a demand for food
business to restore the food environment, by providing and to helping consumers
make better, healthier choices (Chandon & Wansink, 2012; Popkin et al., 2012).
These key highlighted trends show that it is essential and advantageous for Nestl,
a major player in the global food industry, to engage these developments, and
adapt to the new demand.

Amidst the progressively bad food environment in the U.S., the demand for a
healthier one is concurrently and gradually on the rise. According to Popkin et al.
(2012) Tomer (2013) and Chandon and Wansink (2012), most food available on the
U.S. market contain high level of added caloric sweeteners and flavours to attract
consumers while having no significant nutritional content. Thus, observably, the
healthy food consumption habit is lost and food environment becomes unhealthy.

However, many health-conscious consumers are advocating for supplies of better

food, evidently through the resurgence of farmers market across the U.S due to high
demand (Popkin et al., 2012), and many were willing to buy Applebees half portion
for 70% of the price to limit their caloric intake (Chandon & Wansink, 2012). Thus,
Nestl should consider putting in more and healthier clean food promotions to meet
the emerging demand of their health conscious consumers, and emerge as a prohealth and pro-consumer corporation.

Indeed, a growing number of food businesses have pioneered in branching out into
more nutritional food options and promotion to create a better food environment,
and many have succeeded so far. These businesses focus on the main problems
with rate and choice of consumption through food price and food quality (Chandon
& Wansink, 2012; Popkin et al., 2012). Food retailers have been engaging in
competitive pricing of fresh and healthier foods against their cheap unhealthy
alternatives. For example, Wal-Mart has rolled out heavy promotion of fresh
produce with frequent price deals (Chandon & Wansink, 2012). As to improve the
quality of food, the top 17 food companies have agreed to reduce 1.5 trillion
calories from their U.S. supply by 2015 (Popkin et al., 2012). Clearly, these
strategies are well received as the resulting economic and health perks have a
direct regenerating impact on the food environment and consumers health. This
suggests that now is a suitable time for Nestle to branch out with healthy
promotion; we can build up our brand image while at the same time avoid the
pitfalls by previous business.

As businesses head for healthy food alternatives and healthier food environment,
consumers are calling for help with awareness and information regarding nutritional

recommendations (Chandon & Wansink, 2012; Tomer, 2013); thus, firms which put
in social marketing effort in this aspect would naturally please their consumers. As
Chandon and Wansink (2012) have pointed out, many health claims are confusing
and misunderstood by consumers. Tomer (2012) has also agreed by saying that
most professional nutritional societies have tacit relations with the food industry,
creating biased and misleading recommendations. From Chandon and Wansinks
(2012), Tomers (2013), and Popkin et al.s (2012) findings, consumers strongly
prefer front-of-package labelling of nutritional profiles, which would enhance the
convenience and efficiency. The potential of clear and informative labelling can be
seen through the successful Clear on Calories Initiative by the American Beverage
Association. They require display of the calorie content of the whole bottle on the
front, instead of per 8 oz serving (Chandon & Wansink, 2012). As many firms are still
stuck trying to fool consumers with misleading information, Nestle can win over
consumers preference with a business strategy to simplify the nutritional details on
our packaging to more informative and easy-to-digest format.

Although a multi-pronged approach is needed to fight obesity (Chandon & Wansink,

2012; Tomer, 2013), the food industries form the most influential approach. As
weight management is such a huge social issue, adapting and taking advantage of
this trend would definitely be essential for businesses as it shows social
responsibility as well as satisfies a growing economic demand. With an array of
firms already engaged in this trend of creating a healthier and more informative
food environment, it is crucial and would be advantageous for Nestl to innovate
and make a leap in our consumers health business strategies.

Reference
Chandon P., and Wansink B. (2012). Does food marketing need to make us fat? A
review and
solution Nutrition Reviews, Vol. 70(10), 571-593.
Popkin, B. M., Adair, L. S., & Ng, S. W. (Jan 2012). Global nutrition transition and the
pandemic of
obesity in developing countries Nutrition Review, Vol. 70(1), 3-21.
Tomer, J. F. (2013). Stemming the tide of obesity: What needs to happen The Journal
of SocioEconomics, Vol 42, 88-98.

APPENDIX
Company Profile
Company Name: Nestl S.A.
Industry: Food Processing
Market area: Worldwide
Location: Switzerland
Business description:
-Production line: Nestle operates a network of 468 factories located in 86 countries.
The company's products are sold in 194 countries around the world.
-Products: Nestle is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world,
with a product portfolio including baby foods, bottled water, cereals, chocolate and
confectionery, coffee, culinary, chilled and frozen foods, dairy products, drinks, food
service, healthcare nutrition products, ice creams, pet care products, sports
nutrition products and weight management services.

-Business management: The company's three globally managed businesses include

Nestle Nutrition, Nestle Waters and other.
The Nestle Nutrition business comprises three sub-business divisions: infant
nutrition, performance nutrition and weight management.
Nestle Waters operates across all the three geographic zones, and is engaged in the
production and marketing of bottled water and sparkling mineral water under Nestle
Pure Life, Perrier, Poland Spring, S.Pellegrino, Ice Mountain brands, among others.
The other segment primarily includes Nestle Professional, Nespresso, Nestle Health
Science, and food and beverages joint ventures and pharma joint ventures
managed on a worldwide basis.

Reference
Nestle S.A. (2013, August). Company Profile. Retrieved from MarketLine Advantage
database.