Japanese healthy beer/brews case study: aiming to capitalize on the health trend without compromising on taste

Japanese healthy beer/brews case study: aiming to capitalize on the health trend without compromising on taste

Introduction

This report on Japanese healthy beer/brew forms part of Datamonitor's case studies series, which explores business practices across a variety of disciplines and business sectors. It looks at the rise of healthy beer/brew in the Japanese market, and how their success could be applied to other sectors.

Reasons to Purchase

*Gain insight into the methods used by important industry players to give them a competitive edge

*Identify specific areas for operational improvements

*Capitalize on the knowledge of experienced companies when entering a new niche or market

DATAMONITOR VIEW 1
CATALYST 1
SUMMARY 1
ANALYSIS 2
Low-carbohydrate and low-calorie beers have become a spotlight in the industry 2
Beer tagged as light or with lower carbohydrate contents have shown strong growth in the US 2
Low calorie and carb beers have also appealed to consumers in other parts of the world 3
Healthy beer/brews have become a major focus in the Japanese market 4
The low calorie/carbohydrate beer/brews trend started in 2001 4
These healthy beer/brews drinks have been successful in the Japanese market 4
New product launches from the big four brewers led to the intensified war on "zero-kei drinks" 5
The strong growth of these drinks is expected to continue in 2009 8
Behind the success: key factors contributing to the achievement of healthy beer/brews in Japan 9
Capturing the rising consumer trend of healthy products paves the way 9
Lower alcohol tax applied to happoshu and new genre brews has reinforced the motivation to purchase 10
Emphasizing a good taste profile is a basic and important factor to give healthy products optional appeal to consumers 10
The image of a better-for-you choice helped healthy beer/brews in Japan to gain market share and compete with another trend of premiumization 11
Implications: the success of healthy Japanese beer/brews can be applied to other markets 12
To appeal to consumers, healthier options should also feature traits such as good taste and lower price 12
The market potential of healthy alcoholic beverages can be further explored in other genres 12
However, the doubt on whether healthy beer/brews are indeed healthy needs to be handled with care 13
APPENDIX 14
Case study series 14
Methodology 14
Secondary sources 14
Further reading 15
Ask the analyst 15
Datamonitor consulting 15
Disclaimer 15
List of Tables
Table 1: Market share of major beer brands in the US, 2002 - 2007 2
Table 2: 2008 sales volumes of major beer/brew drinks in Japan 5
Table 3: 2009 sales plan of major healthy beer/brew drinks in Japan 9
Table 4: Alcohol tax applied to beer/brews in Japan 10
List of Figures
Figure 1: Low calorie / carbohydrate beers have been popular across the world 3
Figure 2: Healthy beer/brews from Asahi and advertisement for Asahi Style Free 6
Figure 3: Healthy beer/brews from Kirin and advertisement for Kirin Tanrei W 7
Figure 4: Healthy beer/brews from Suntory and the advertisement for Suntory Diet Clear Taste 7
Figure 5: Healthy beer/brews from Sapporo 8
Figure 6: Taste is the basic factor influencing consumers' choices while health is a mid-ranging factor 11
Figure 7: Examples of healthy alcoholic beverages in other sectors 13