Infographics of the Week: How Nutrition Drives Shopping Behaviors

Healthy, local foods are becoming a growing priority for consumers, which should be no surprise given all of the research published this year about the the staggering rates of obesity  in the United States. Supermarket News has put together some helpful infographics outlining key datapoints from recently published consumer insight reports on nutrition driven shopping behaviors and how consumers choose healthful foods.

The first infographic highlights some interesting consumer insights and tech-related findings from Food Marketing Insitute and Prevention Magazine’s annual “Shopping For Health” survey. According to the report, consumers are increasingly looking for healthier food options when shopping for food. 39 percent of the 1,471 shoppers polled say they turn to the Internet when looking for healthy meal inspiration. And of this group, 67 percent go to recipe websites, while only 18 percent go to a brand’s website and 13 percent go to a retailer’s website. This could be one of the reasons why companies like Unilever are investing in recipe startups like Yummly.

The second infographic looks more closely at the attributes, claims and positioning consumers are looking for when choosing health packaged foods, based on Mintel’s “Attitude Toward Healthy Food” report. The report also looks at the reasons why consumers choose health foods and emerging nutritional trends. Of the 2,000 consumers surveyed, 60 percent regularly read nutrition information, but only 38 percent actually trust labels or grocery signs to help them find healthy products. Also of note is consumer preference for “all natural” (51 percent) “locally made” (35 percent) “artisinal” (34 percent) and “organic” (33 percent) products. Consumers preference for foods with positive claims like “high in vitamins” also increased by 32 percent from the following year, indicating that consumers care more about what’s in their food and how it effects their health.

.