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Nathanael is an Insight Manager at Euromonitor International, specialising in beverage products in Asia Pacific, with a specific focus on sustainability, product innovations, government legislation and health and wellness trends.
Nathaneal's career to date has seen him develop profound experience in soft drinks, hot drinks, and expertise on key hot topics such as the encroachment of legislation and its influence on market dynamics, product reformulation and natural health, in addition to consideration of packaging and sustainability. Most recently he has helped clients come to terms with the massive influence of inflation and its global ramifications. His insights have been shared across business and trade press, including Channelnewsasia, Reuters and on stage in various industry events, including ProPak Asia, Food Hotel Asia and BevTech Asia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Singapore Management University.
Consumers in Asia Pacific have a wide range of health priorities ranging from mental wellbeing to getting enough sleep to maintaining a healthy immune system. There are increasing opportunities across both physical and emotional/mental health spaces, creating potential for beverage companies to look into various functional ingredients and map these to consumers’ rising health priorities.
Amidst the cost of living crisis and an inflationary environment, tea in Asia Pacific remains a resilient category, owing to its inelastic demand. Nevertheless, stiff competition from other beverages remains, and this report seeks to analyse the various innovation strategies adopted by tea players to thrive in the long term. This includes responding to consumers’ health concerns, such as stress relief, mental wellbeing and boosting the immune system.
With the rise of many local chained specialist coffee shops emerging across Asia Pacific, the future of coffee shops in Asia Pacific is likely to evolve into an environment with more local coffee shops in the short term, eroding the traditional stronghold of international coffee chains such as Starbucks, especially in markets like China and Vietnam.