-By PG Staff

Long considered "the lifeblood of grocery retailing," new products are indispensable means of attracting buyers' attention behind the scenes and generating excitement among consumers in the aisles. Yet with each passing year, the process of sifting through the countless stream of new products vying for valuable shelf space seems to get more complicated for category buyers, who, more times than not, rely most heavily on their seasoned instincts to decide what consumers will consider to be the next, best mousetrap.

But as we've done since 2003, Progressive Grocer's editors have once again set out to potentially make that job somewhat easier by asking manufacturers to send us what they considered to be their best new products unveiled in the past 12 months. And once again, we were thrilled with the response we received, which generated a medley of some great new products in dozens of categories across the breadth of the store. Our roughly 80 winning entries this year were chosen from a field of over 300 qualified entries, which, of course, represent a relatively small universe. As such, our selections should not be seen as a comprehensive accounting of all noteworthy new products on the market. Nevertheless, this year's slate of Editors' Picks depicts an equitable representation of key product trends that are commanding the most attention in the marketplace today.

When our editorial, design and marketing teams sat down in late June to review the field entries, we approached the process as an open canvas on which we would rate all products on their own merits based on three main criteria (more on that momentarily). With no set number, particular theme or pre-established parameters, we embarked on picking our favorite products in a fun, free-form, hands-on manner. But in the course of the product judging process — as has been the case in previous years — specific themes emerged.

Among the notable trends prevailing in this year's new-products derby:

An overriding propensity of better-for-you choices that feature functional-food additives and oils like omegas, DHA, canola and extra-virgin olive;  whole grains; and vitamin-rich antioxidants "Free-from" foods made with no preservatives, hormones or antibiotics Products that "tell a story" — think Fair Trade, family farm-sourced, sustainably harvested, and  cause-oriented — also figure more prominently than in previous years Items targeting specific consumer needs, such as those for allergy-sensitive, gluten-intolerant  or calorie-conscious shoppers Products addressing more than one specific consumer need simultaneously, such as   convenience and all natural, or on-trend flavors and Fair Trade organic Healthy, all-natural, superior tasting kid-friendly products that will not only appeal to the intended targets, but also to their parents Restaurant-quality and chef-inspired meals in frozen and shelf-stable forms A strong showing of excellent entries in the pet foods and HBC categories, where health and wellness continues as an overriding trend Continued advancements in packaging innovation and efficiencies that elevate        functionality, freshness, ease of use, eye appeal and/or all of the above
As for our "official" judging criteria, we assigned a 1-5 point value — with 1 being lowest and 5 being the highest — for all products in three categories as follows: innovation (for which we rated the product's overall innovation, inclusive of new packaging design, ingredient enhancement, ability to grow/develop a new and/or existing category, flavor/ingredients/variety/portion size, etc.); taste/functionality (does the product live up to taste/quality expectations/attributes, and functionality/utilitarian attributes?); and the value proposition (whereby we evaluated a product's overall value in terms of price, time savings, convenience and quality).

Our decisions were made without strict scientific guidelines or exacting quantitative analysis, but instead on the personal viewpoints of a contingent of opinionated trade journalists who are also avid new-product enthusiasts when wearing their consumer hats. We obviously looked for factors that would likely lead to success in the marketplace, but in all cases, the bottom-line delineator guiding our decisions boiled down to one basic question: would we buy the product for ourselves or our families?

Without further ado, Progressive Grocer proudly presents the following standouts that are worthy of a closer look.