Despite grocery prices rising, most American consumers aren’t compromising on buying fresh produce—creating great opportunity for new business.
Key Details
- A recent Deloitte survey found that rising prices on fresh food isn’t deterring American consumers from eating healthful food.
- Around 84% of consumers still take health and wellness into account when making their purchases.
- Over half are considering personalized nutrition choices, 13 percentage points more than last year.
- Around 55% of those surveyed say they would be willing to pay more for better food as it plays a role in their overall health and wellness.
Why it’s news
Eating a healthful diet plays an important part in a person’s overall wellness, but having the budget to follow that diet can often be easier said than done.
Plus, as a certain percentage of Americans eating organic food, for example, as a regular practice leads to a tremendous business opportunity worth of investment.
During times of economic uncertainty when household budgets are tighter, buying frozen and processed foods can often be cheaper than buying fresh produce, but researchers have found inflation may have changed that.
In July of this year, more frozen food was sold than fresh, however, fewer units of frozen food were sold. Frozen foods had a lower starting price than many fresh foods, but due to inflation, the overall price has risen more than fresh food prices.
Household grocery expenses have increased this year as inflation has driven food prices up. Understandably, 92% of those surveyed said price was a consideration when purchasing fresh food. Around 85% said they prefer lower priced food while the number of people willing to pay for premium foods dropped to 61%.
The shelf life of food is another important factor for consumers to consider. If the food goes bad before it can be eaten, consumers aren’t saving any money. Almost 80% of consumers said that they consider food waste when making purchasing decisions.
Shoppers are changing strategies in order to stay as close to budget as possible. Some are changing to different brand items, shopping in multiple stores to get the best sales, and choosing smaller shopping carts.
Around 40% are focusing on reducing food waste and 18% are switching to non-perishable items.
