| State of the GF Market, Report 1 - GFTECH | | | | The first point is that Australia's population is near |
| report | | | | 20 Million while the US is near 300 Million. Thus the |
| This report considers the differences in the | | | | US is near 15 times the Australian population and |
| Australian and US GF markets by analysis of | | | | yet the Australian search terms only need to be |
| consumer e-demand, or Google internet searches. | | | | multiplied by 10 to be very comparable. This |
| Basic macro economics suggests that markets | | | | suggests that per population Australians have a |
| are governed by principles of supply and demand. | | | | 50% more interest in searching for GF terms. |
| Marketing however suggests that good suppliers | | | | It is amazing how similar the keyword groups |
| find where the demand is, then create and | | | | compare for Australia and the US. While Australian |
| market products or services to it. It would appear | | | | and US foods and culture are similar this |
| that increased 'GF food' searches (over the last | | | | shadowing of groups is phenomenal. |
| year) are beginning to be mirrored by increased | | | | Although the 'GF foods' Group contains six |
| suppliers of products and services. | | | | phrases, it is easily the most commonly searched |
| While the GF production side of the market is well | | | | group of all GF related searches in the top 20 |
| under way in the US and Australia it still remains a | | | | searches. The major celiac phrases Group |
| niche market with many celiacs unaware that | | | | accounts for only half the search volumes of 'GF |
| they have the disease. While Australia often | | | | foods' Group volumes, however the group is only |
| follows US trends this article analyses the | | | | composed of two terms. This suggests that per |
| difference between the countries regarding search | | | | phrase, in both Australia and the US, there are is |
| habits and therefore demand for GF products and | | | | an almost equal interest in people seeking |
| services. | | | | information on 'GF foods' as there are searching |
| Firstly there is obviously a difference in the spelling | | | | for information on the disease. |
| of the disease in each country. Australia spells it | | | | By comparison, there is an overall relatively low |
| as 'coeliac', while the US use 'celiac'. During this | | | | interest in 'gluten diet' grouping and 'GF recipe' |
| research it was found that while most Australian's | | | | group, as judge by how few deviations of the |
| use the coeliac spelling a large number still use the | | | | terms exist. However the three Australian 'GF |
| American version. Americans only search for the | | | | recipe' terms cluster together in the top ten of |
| US spelling. | | | | searches and nearer the top of the searches |
| While Australians look for products that are gluten | | | | compared to the US terms. Both of these groups |
| and 'gluten dairy free', the US does not associate | | | | could be considered as a niche area and subgroup |
| the two. | | | | of what people would find by using the search |
| In both countries people search for topics such as | | | | terms in the large 'GF food' group anyway. |
| 'gluten recipes'. While this logically may not seem | | | | The 'wheat free' group is composed of four |
| like they are searching for 'GF recipes', GF recipe | | | | terms. Two of the terms are substitutes for 'GF |
| sites dominate the search results confirming that | | | | food' terms, and two are based on allergy related |
| this is a 'learned shortcut' that people are using. | | | | issues. This shows that most people prefer |
| The top 20 or so terms (excluding spelling | | | | searching directly for 'GF foods' rather than |
| differences) searched for by both countries is | | | | 'wheat free'. Also for issues relating to the |
| very similar. As individual terms will vary from | | | | disease, most people still search for information |
| month to month it is less instructive to compare | | | | on celiacs rather than wheat intolerance. |
| individual terms rather than GROUP terms. For this | | | | For November the total Google searches for the |
| reason the top search terms are group in the | | | | main 'GF food' related terms was 316,000 in |
| following manner: | | | | Australia compared to a little over 3 million in the |
| - GF foods = 6 | | | | US. Again this is a factor of 10 whereas the US is |
| - Gluten diet = 2 | | | | nearer 15 times more populous than Australia. |
| - GF recipes = 3 | | | | If the population of the US is considered to be |
| - Coeliac related = 2 | | | | approximately 300 Million, and 1 in 100 people are |
| - Wheat free related = 4 | | | | celiac. That would mean that on average there is |
| Group Composition: | | | | one GF term searched for every celiac in the US. |
| GF Foods: This group of search terms all involve | | | | In Australia a population of 20 Million would mean |
| the word GF and is to do with phrases with | | | | that about 1.6 searches per celiac. |
| respect to GF foods. | | | | Research suggests that different races have |
| Gluten Diet: These are terms that are related to | | | | difference susceptibilities to acquiring the disease, |
| the specifics of GF diets. | | | | which in the US would reduce the overall rate of |
| GF recipe: Searches and website related to | | | | CD to 1 in 133. Even if this is so, CD typically has |
| cooking GF meals. | | | | very low rates of diagnosis. In fact from a recent |
| Coeliac related: For Australia, there four terms | | | | GF show in Melbourne, it appeared that there |
| considered: two each for the coeliac / celiac | | | | may be as many people who are gluten intolerant |
| spellings. In the US while the same two terms are | | | | or just choose GF for health reasons as there are |
| compared (celiac spelling only), a third celiac | | | | diagnosed people with CD. |
| related term is included in the total volumes. | | | | Google says that for 'Food and Drink' sites, a |
| Except for the specific term 'GF', the coeliac | | | | benchmark rate of New Visitors is 71% of all |
| related terms have by far the highest search | | | | visits. From observations and these facts it would |
| volumes. | | | | appear that only a small amount of celiacs and |
| Wheat free group: For both Australia and the US | | | | gluten intolerant people are searching for |
| these terms all fall outside of the top ten search | | | | information on GF food but that they do it |
| volumes for gluten related terms. | | | | reasonably regularly per month. |
| Analysis of Search Volumes | | | | |