Gladson Product Content Database Highlights Demand for Organic, Gluten-Free Items

Company helps brands and retailers meet shoppers’ expectations for
product information, transparency

LISLE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Consumer demand for healthy items and product transparency continues to
shape the food and beverage marketplace. Gladson,
the leading provider of digital product content and related services for
the consumer goods industry, released new data today highlighting the
rise of health-related claims on product packaging.

With the Gladson
E-Commerce Database featuring over 600,000 items and thousands of
products being added and updated each week, the company sees firsthand
how shopper behavior is impacting product trends. Based on its database,
Gladson announced these findings:

• From 2013 to 2015, Gladson’s database had a 61 percent increase in
  items marked gluten-free.
• During the 2013 to 2015 timeframe, the database experienced a 77
  percent increase in items labeled organic.
• Allergen claims were also on the rise, with the database having a 43
  percent increase in items with allergen claims from 2013 to 2015.

“Consumers today are more discerning about the products they buy, and
their criteria continues to evolve,” said Susan Sentell, Gladson CEO and
president. “It’s the responsibility of brands, retailers and solution
providers like Gladson to ensure that shoppers have the information they
need to select products that align with their health, wellness and
lifestyle needs.”

As Sentell mentioned, the factors influencing shoppers’ purchases are
undergoing a transformation. According to a new study by Deloitte, the
Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association
(GMA), 51 percent of Americans are looking at factors such as health and
wellness and transparency as food purchase drivers, in addition to
traditional factors such as taste and price.

“In the complex and competitive grocery aisle, consumers have more
product options available to them,” said Sentell. “To earn customer
loyalty and sales, manufacturers and retailers need to provide accurate
and expanded product information via traditional avenues such as the
product package, and on digital platforms, such as websites and mobile
apps.”

To help brands and retailers meet shoppers’ expectations, Gladson’s
product content database offers a complete digital representation of
each product, including high-resolution images and over 200 product
attributes, such as nutrition facts, ingredients, allergens, weights and
dimensions, warnings and marketing claims.

Gladson is also supporting various industry initiatives that promote
product information transparency, including GMA’s SmartLabel™.
With SmartLabel, consumers will have instantaneous access to detailed
information about thousands of products by scanning a bar code or doing
an online search. Gladson customers can have their product content
created, hosted and delivered in accordance with the SmartLabel program
requirements.

To learn more about how Gladson is helping brands and retailers provide
accurate and comprehensive product information to shoppers, please visit www.gladson.com.

About Gladson

Gladson delivers the most comprehensive product content solution on the
market today. The company combines the industry’s largest and most
dynamic database of consumer product images and information with
high-impact category management and Store Optimization Services to
maximize sales and operational efficiency. Gladson’s enterprise-ready
digital product content fuels strategies for e-commerce, space planning,
marketing, advertising, supply chain, market research, mobile
applications, master data management and other critical business
processes. Gladson’s product content is captured in accordance with GS1
industry standards.

Gladson helps manufacturers, retailers and service providers plan and
execute more effectively so they can meet shopper expectations across
the path to purchase.

For more information, visit www.gladson.com.

Contacts

Outlook Marketing
Heidi Murphy
Public Relations
(847)
994-3651
heidi@outlookmarketingsrv.com