Sept 25, 2007 – French dairy giant Groupe Danone is bidding to make significant in-roads into the lucrative US market with its probiotic yoghurts.
Under its US subsidiary Dannon, the company is seeking to persuade sceptical consumers and the medical community of the benefits of its yoghurts that carry patented bacteria. Tests have shown these “good bacteria” help digestion, say the manufacturer.
The US yoghurt market is a potentially lucrative one and, since Americans, on average, only consume one third of their counterparts in Western Europe, one where there is room for growth.
Figures released by Euromonitor International reveal the American yoghurt market will be worth 3.8 billion euro this year, with probiotics accounting for half a billion euros of that amount. In Europe the total yoghurt market is 12 billion euro, where probiotics sales reach over 2 billion euro.
In an effort to persuade sceptics in the US, Dannon teamed up with rival Yakult to fund a symposium last year on the health impact of probiotics at Harvard Medical School’s Division of Nutrition. Dannon has also focused some of it marketing in specialised medical publications.
Dannon said it views the US as a growth market and has plans to launch one of its best-known probiotic brands there after its extensive market research indicated the market might be more receptive.
But it will have competition after General Mill s and Kashi, a natural food company, also put their own probiotic products on the market.