Euromonitor Podcasts

Hilary Walsh, Economy, Finance and Trade Manager at Euromonitor responds to former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill’s new list of emerging economies, dubbed MINT. This acronym stands for Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. In this podcast, Walsh gives her opinion on whether the MINT economies will become important to the global economy over the next few years or if other countries offer...

A transition in the Swedish milk market took place in late 2011 when the dairy giant Arla acquired Milko, reaching an almost monopolistic state. The Swedish Competition Authority required Arla to sell one of its recently acquired dairy plants, purchased from the country’s largest grocery retailer Coop. The company pledged to use the plant to sell its own private label milk for 5 percent lower than...

As both McDonald’s and Panera prepare to take their restaurant brands to the coffee aisle in US grocery stores, Euromonitor Beverages Analyst Jonas Feliciano discusses whether chained foodservice players have any advantage in this fast growing category and the impact that these moves will have on the beverages industry as a whole. Lots of brands claim to be number one… but can they prove it? At Eu...

Even more consumers will be shopping online on computers or their mobile devices this year with nearly half of consumers planning to buy gifts online, according to a Google consumer survey. Shopping is starting earlier than ever; Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US are mainstays in the holiday shopping season and in China the online shopping day known as “single’s day” took place on November 1...

2013 marked the third year of El Buen Fin, Mexico’s answer to Black Friday in the US. The event takes place over the long weekend leading up to Revolution Day which was November 15-18 in 2013. El Buen Fin started in 2011 as a joint initiative between the Mexican government and ANTAD, the country’s major retailing association. Final figures are not yet available but estimates indicate that sales fo...

Lauren Bandy, Ingredients Analyst at Euromonitor, recaps her presentation at Food Ingredients Europe. Even though volume sales of food and beverages in Europe are shrinking, retail value is growing, pointing to manufactures adding value to products with ingredients. Bandy ranks the top five of these added value ingredients in terms of forecasted growth and explains why each of these ingredients ar...

September 2013 saw the sixth straight quarter of a global decline in personal computer sales, mainly due to the rise of mobile devices such as the smartphone and tablet. Pavel Marceux, Contributing Analyst for Technology, Communications and Media at Euromonitor states that in developed markets, consumers are not upgrading their PCs. In emerging markets, consumers are choosing handheld devices as t...

Fluctuation in prices was the main story in soft commodities in October. Wheat prices rose sharply as concerns arose due to the smaller than usual crop in Argentina. Prices fell once rumors spread India would cut its flour price for wheat exports. A fire in a Brazilian port engulfed around 150,000 pounds of sugar in mid-October, temporarily raising sugar prices. Francisco Redruello, Senior Foods A...

El mercado mexicano de ropa presenta gran dinamismo, en 2012 las ventas alcanzaron 185.600 millones de pesos mexicanos (US$14.100 millones). Según la analista de Euromonitor, Beatriz Torres, el buen desempeño se debe a tres razones, el incremento en el ingreso disponible, el acceso al crédito y la migración hacia canales formales de distribución. Por otra parte la llegada de muchas marcas multinac...

While American fast food chains can be found in nearly every corner of the globe, there is still a whole world of American cuisine which only recently began appearing outside US borders. In this podcast, Michael Schaefer, Head of Beverages and Foodservice research, discusses the possibility of regional American cuisines becoming the next big thing in global foodservice.  These cuisines might be pa...

Older consumers are attracting the attention of companies due to both the rising number of elderly people and their growing incomes. By 2020, the purchasing power of the global population aged 65 and older will be 54 percent larger than the total GDP of Latin America. The key to success when tapping into an older consumer market is to engage consumers on both high and low income levels, as a Eurom...

With laundry care on the rise and more consumers buying washing machines, companies are attempting to maintain sustainability practices in both developing and emerging markets. Ian Bell, Head of Home Care Research at Euromonitor, states that many manufacturers are tapping into their value chains to educate consumers about sustainable washing practices. Consumers may get information about cold wate...

Domestic products in Slovakia are disappearing on store shelves in the country. Only 44 percent of all products in Slovakia were produced domestically in 2013, compared to 70 percent in countries such as Poland and Hungary. In response to this, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic passed a law aiming to educate consumers about domestic products when they step into a store. Informatio...

Tylenol sales have fallen drastically from 2007 to 2012 due to product recalls and production shutdowns. Now, Johnson and Johnson, which owns the brand, is promoting a re-launch of Tylenol with a new advertising campaign focusing on what pain relief enables, rather than the hindrance of pain. Chris Schmidt, Consumer Health Industry Analyst at Euromonitor, states that although sales of Tylenol in t...

The apparel and footwear market in Romania has developed tremendously over the past two years, thanks to retailers such as H&M moving into the country. In fact, in the first half of 2013, H&M almost doubled its 2012 sales in Romania. Sales of apparel and footwear in Romania are expected to grow even more in the upcoming years with the country’s economic recovery rising consumer incomes. Lo...

The European Union passed several tobacco regulations on October 8, 2013 banning menthol cigarettes and the use of words such as “light” and “organic” to describe cigarettes and requiring larger warnings on cigarette packaging. Shane MacGuill, Tobacco Industry Analyst at Euromonitor, describes the regulations in full, explaining whether the decisions are a win or loss for the tobacco industry.  Lo...

Japan and Hong Kong/China have the oldest average populations in the Asia Pacific region, and each country is doing more to help older consumers as their spending power increases. In Japan, which has the highest average age in the world, the government is looking to end inflation which affects older consumers the most. Sarah Boumphrey, Head of Countries and Consumers Research at Euromonitor, state...

The Nordic Council of Ministers recently published a new edition of the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, serving as a guideline for foodservice outlets, packaged food manufactures and health and wellness manufacturers in the region. Changes to the old edition included a slight increase in the recommended amount of daily energy intake and an increase in the recommended daily vitamin D intake. The...

Wheat and corn had very different futures in September: wheat futures went up by 5% due to Egypt returning to the market and buying, and corn futures decreased by 7% as a result of the drop in price of soy beans. Since soy beans can be used as a corn substitute in cattle feed, soy beans are being purchased instead of corn. Francisco Redruello, Senior Food Analyst at Euromonitor, also discusses sug...

Sports nutrition is a fast growing market in the United States and Gatorade quickly released several products  to capitalize on the trend. Energy chews and recovery shakes from the company are readily available but have not sold well since their release. Jonas Feliciano, Beverages Industry Analyst at Euromonitor, states that Gatorade’s core audience is not specifically interested in sports nutriti...

Traditional toy stores are on the decline worldwide, facing competition from toy sales in grocery retailing. The convenience of buying toys while grocery shopping is enticing to parents, and grocery stores have the benefit of offering cheaper products as well. However, there are some manufacturers pulling their products from grocery stores because of less than profitable margins and if this trend...

EBay has partnered with UK store and catalogue chain Argos for a “click-and-collect” trial allowing selected purchases from eBay to be picked up from 150 different Argos stores. Antonia Branston, Senior Retailing Analyst at Euromonitor, states this trial recognizes that in today’s multichannel retailing environment, no player can be purely in-store or online. Branston also considers other retailer...

There seems to be an app for everything, making it hard to believe the Apple App Store launched only in 2008. Daphne Kasriel, Consumers Editor at Euromonitor, explains current app trends including photo sharing, green consumers, life management and shopping. Although there are millions of apps available, there is still room for growth as consumers demand apps for new areas such as home automation...

Early last month, Alsea, the operator of Starbucks and Burger King outlets in Mexico, announced the purchase of Walmex’s restaurant division for US$630 million (Mx$8.2 billion), giving it full control of the popular Vips chain of family restaurants, among others. The move was a first for the company, which had previously focused on operating licenced global brands. It also came on the heels of the...

Baby food is a niche product in Russia with consumers preferring to serve baby juice to their infants.  Dominated by local players, Russia’s baby juice market is almost completely produced inside the country with high sales attributed not only to babies, but even older children and adults. The product is seen as safer and more natural due to the country’s strict production requirements. The ongoin...