As the economy continues to expand, premium and super-premium distilled spirits are coming back stronger than ever, according to the Beverage Information & Insights Group’s “2014 Liquor Handbook.” The Norwalk, Conn.-based company reports that this premiumization trend means that consumers are drinking less but drinking “better,” which resulted in slower case sales growth of 2.2 percent, reaching 210 million 9-liter cases in 2013.

Food Marketing Institute (FMI), Arlington, Va., released its annual “U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends” study in collaboration with the Hartman Group, Bellevue, Wash.

PwC, New York, released a new experience radar report titled “Front of the Line: How grocers can get ahead for the future.”

The number of Americans who consider healthfulness when purchasing their food and beverages has shown a significant uptick in the past two years, according to the Washington, D.C.-based International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation’s 2014 Food and Health Survey. The survey also evaluated the “emotional” conversations consumers have about food, finding that fewer than one in four have these conversations.

Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Chicago, and SPINS, Schaumburg, Ill., created SPINS NaturaLink, a new segmentation of the total U.S. population that focuses on how shoppers think about, purchase and use natural, organic and eco-friendly products. Consumers increasingly are embracing natural and organic products and often are as concerned about what is not in the products they buy as much as what is in them, IRI notes. SPINS NaturaLink is designed to assist consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers and retailers in generating new levels of growth through a better understanding of these shopper needs.

Although U.S. consumers kept a recessionary mindset in the first quarter of 2013, they exhibited a cautious desire to spend money again, according to the Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions.

 According to a study by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research, shoppers believe name brand products are slightly higher in quality than private labels with 51 percent of shoppers indicating that they continue to buy name brand products instead of store brand alternatives because they trust the name.  

 I never considered myself a typical consumer for my age group.  

 With beverage-makers constantly innovating their product lines to offer consumers healthier options, consumers are at no loss for choices.  

 Private label continues to be a top seller in bottled water, bagged tea, ground coffee, juice and dairy alternatives, according to sales data from Chicago-based market research firm SymphonyIRI Group cited in this month’s State of the Industry 2012 report.