UAE consumers 'more open to sensory experiences'

 UAE consumers are more open to innovative food products that provide new sensory experiences than any other market, according to Richard Adams of Data Monitor .

A hot jelly drink, a soft drink that tastes of a creamy French pudding, and even fruit-flavoured tortilla chips are just a few of the new innovations in food and drink, as identified by Product Launch Analytics (PLA), that UAE consumers could be willing to try.

Richard Adams, consumer and retail consultant at Data Monitor, said that food and drink which challenges traditional concepts of taste and texture have been soaring in popularity across the world, but that the UAE in particular was fertile territory for such products.

“All new product launches have to be region-relevant and should be thoroughly market tested. However, overall Datamonitor figures indicate that UAE consumers are more open to new sensory experiences than their counterparts globally."

Adams believes there are many reasons that this is the case:

“The UAE has an ethnically diverse population and a plethora of foodstuffs are available to meet market wants,” he said.

“Broad-ranging choice stimulates demand for new offerings as consumers become both habituated, and partial, to new sensory experiences.

"Equally, the UAE also has a significant strata of wealthy, well-travelled, youth, who are open to and actively look for new products.

"Many wish to be trendsetters and have the purchasing power to make the UAE a fertile marketplace for the new and the sensational."