Cross-category innovativeness as a source of new product ideas: Consumers’ perceptions of over-the-counter pharmacological beverages

The borders between food and beverage, pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare industries have become increasingly blurred concurrent to the development of ‘radically innovative’ health-enhancing foods and beverages within the health and wellness market. This research investigated consumers’ attitudes and perceptions towards cross-category innovations, and applied it to the design and strategic marketing of novel over-the-counter (OTC) pharmacological beverages. Fifty-eight consumers participated in 10 in-depth interviews and six focus groups. Following this, 286 respondents evaluated hypothetical OTC pharmacological beverage concepts through conjoint analysis. The research revealed that the functional benefit attribute accounted for over 33% of consumers’ purchase intent for OTC pharmacological beverages, with age and OTC-related purchase behaviours strongly related to cluster membership. Consequently, as companies move towards the extremes of the diet-health continuum, branding, product efficacy and product positioning strategy issues become extremely critical considerations for companies seeking new product opportunities with medicinal-oriented products such as OTC pharmacological beverages.