Gluten-free diet is one of the most popular U.S.

Health food trends – not due to increased cases of

celiac diseases, but due to increased rates of gluten sensitivity/intolerance among US citizens and
growing perception about its ill-effects.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=gluten-free&geo=IN

Popularity of books, media stories, maybe the entire concept is a fad (jpeds.com/article/S0022-
3476(16)30062-2/pdf)

Maybe a Gluten-free label will be able to help them;

Cost for gluten-free products; cost will be more as wheat, barley and rye are replaced by naturally
gluten free grains like rice, maize, quinoa, sorghum, millets, and legumes;

Another major reason which is seen in making gf foods costlier is replacing gluten which is missing.

To replace natural gluten in gluten free food is done artificially by gums.

Procurement of grains which are sieved manually and also double sorted to ensure that not even
single grain of wheat/barley/rye goes into manufacturing add to the cost. Entrepreneurs can’t buy
big automatic plants as the requirement in the market is much lower than the capacity of available
machines. Economy of scales is not applicable in this field and involvement of manual labour and
manufacturing in smaller batches hikes the production cost.

Expectation of retail segment – GF is special and so, higher margins initially – increase MRP of
products so that they have more profits.

Brand – Wheafree

However, post-pandemic, the market for gluten-free products is projected to witness an optimistic
growth trend, owing to the rise in consumers preferring gluten-free and other free-from foods, as a
result of a shift in the consumption lifestyles towards healthier eating.

The authors imply that within food choices individuals may take the following features into
consideration: sensorial aspects; economic factors; convenience; health and nutrition; product
quality; and the preferences and needs of the people with whom one lives. When the availability of
food products is limited, as is this case of gluten-free products, several features are automatically
ignored, although they would be assessed in other situations. Therefore, to our understanding, the
food choices of coeliac people are often not conceptual, but are made over a lack of alternatives.

Amount and variety of gluten-free food products were limited in stores; in addition, their prices
were high. This situation may have a negative impact over diet adherence and stimulate the intake
of conventional products, with harmful consequences to the quality of life and health of the coeliac
patient population. Cluster analysis found similarities in the nutritional content of gluten-free and
conventional food products, suggesting that although raw materials different than wheat are being
employed, the composition patterns are the same.

“With or without a pandemic, people need to eat,” says Suarez-Bitar. And widespread lockdowns
definitely gave consumers more at-home opportunities to snack and rediscover their love of baked
goods. Their now-notorious storming of supermarket centre aisles also proved that they still have
room in their cupboards for prepared and packaged items.

Whether going gluten-free pays appreciable health dividends to the non-celiac or gluten-tolerant
consumer, making that switch has nonetheless become firmly entrenched in consumers’ minds as
good-for-you, he says.

Pricing Strategies for New Products in Market:

New Products are distinctive who has a progressive degeneration from competitiveness in its initial
phase. Once market accepts the product, a rapid expansion of sales occurs.

Now, new competitors will enter and the distinctive gap between the product and its substitute will
reduce. Even if the rivals are few, producer will have a limited independence.

Throughout the PLC, promotional cost, price elasticity & cost of production & distribution changes.

The product, if incorporates high scale of plant investment and technical research – the gestation
period of the product will be long.

In early developmental stages, product can still go for differentiation.

Reasons for degeneration:

1. Market Acceptance – The extent to which the product becomes a substitute of performing
the same service; low unit price speeds market acceptance on innovation.
2. Ease of competitive entry: If it is high, then the product’s pricing ought to go down