Time To Make A Choice: How Customers Choose Products
Do you always read the information about the ingredients on the product packages? Which criteria do you follow when you buy food? Strict statistics gives the answer. The experts have surveyed the natural food demand among different generations. The results show that conventional supermarket food sales are decreasing while the products claimed as natural, clean and free from artificial admixtures are the more successful.
These trends are becoming more mainstream: results of the survey show that
93% of US families prefer buying eco-labelled products in supermarkets, 70% - in big marts, and 33% in wholesale stores. 50% of the shopping trips include purchasing natural products. Don't let the common numbers confuse you: not all families always visit the same shopping places.
Consumers born after 1965 prefer buying products labeled as
‘Organic’, ‘Non-GMO’ and ‘Free from added hormones’. On the other hand, older generation consumers pay less attention to such labels.
Consumers are more and more keen in the eco-production concept. As a consequence, the food producers seek to exclude artificial sweeteners, colorants and flavoring agents, and especially such products as high-fructose corn syrup, gluten and trans fats.
Kraft Heinz reconsidered the recipe of their famous Oscar Meyer hot dogs, adding only clean products in it. Two years before, Campbell Soup also claimed to exclude almost all artificial colorants and flavor agents from the products manufactured for US until the end of 2018, and launched a new line of goods made of simple ingredients to satisfy the demand for healthy food. Hershey, General Mills and many other manufacturers have made similar changes.
According the survey of Innova, 75% of consumers always read the ingredients section on the product packages, 91% prefer products that contain well-known healthy ingredients.
In such a way, the food industry has a clear economic motivation to move towards the clean production, as the surveys show that
most consumers prefer paying extra 10% for the food that contain ingredients they trust in. 18% of the consumers say that they would pay extra 75% for products they prefer.
Aside from the ingredients, the consumers also consider the nutritional information as an important aspect of choice. However, the price is still the most important factor.
Despite of the fact that general consumer prefers eco-labelled foods and drinks, there are still variations by age, income and personal choice.
Nielsen analyzed the proportion of eco-products and drinks versus the regular ones. Eco-labels are leading in several categories such as: beans (51% vs. 49%), baked goods (57% vs. 43%), vinegars (81% vs. 19%), sugar and sweeteners (83% vs. 17%) and dairy (90% vs. 10%), according to Food Business News.
A typical eco-labelled production fan can be drawn as a young customer who occasionally cooks at home, loves dairy and has a sweet tooth. However, as it always is, the survey shows the complex consumer demography which food producers should consider, as well as their awareness on choosing the products.