Feature of healthy food products promotion: the experience of the EU and Ukraine

Abstract

The article focuses on the features of promoting healthy food products. The relevance is because, in recent years, the level of childhood obesity both in the world and in Ukraine has been growing. In contrast, more than one billion people in the world suffer from obesity, of which 159 million are children and adolescents. Therefore, more and more attention is paid to healthy eating to prevent negative health consequences. The work aims to analyze the features of promoting healthy food products in the EU and consider the experience in Ukraine. The results show that public interest in healthy eating is increasing every year. The paper identifies the advantages and disadvantages of switching to healthy eating. The main target segments of healthy food products are identified (people who care about their health, athletes, and people who exercise, people who want to lose weight or maintain weight, vegetarians and vegans, families with children, and people who are interested in a healthy lifestyle in general). A comparative description of promotion tools in the healthy food market in Ukraine and the EU was conducted (social networks, blogs, and websites, collaborations with influencers, cooperation with retail chains, community creation, traditional advertising, search engine optimization, educational programs, government programs, mobile applications). It was found that Ukrainian brands demonstrate effective development strategies, responding to different consumer segments and contributing to the growth of the healthy food market in Ukraine. At the same time, they use only a limited set of promotion tools. Conclusions. Recommendations have been developed to stimulate growth in the industry, particularly the involvement of innovative technologies, expanding the range of products, active implementation of marketing strategies, and government support in subsidies and educational programs. It will allow the Ukrainian healthy food market to meet modern global trends and shape them. The results of this study may be helpful to marketers and owners of companies that promote healthy food products on the market, as well as researchers studying this topic.