Dive Brief:
- The Center for Food Integrity has released a report that identifies voices that shape consumer decisions at the grocery store and lists the brands that define today’s food system.
- Peak Performers — or consumers who drive change and set trends — greatly influence Providers — a group that tries to deliver nutrition to their household and represents 33% of the U.S. population. These relationships illustrate how new ideas or products are adopted by society.
- The report says 40% of consumers feel that they have all the access and information they need concerning food safety and production — an increase of 22% over the last eight years. Much of this growth has been initiated by Peak Performers, who generally feel empowered and in control over their food choices and information channels.
Dive Insight:
The Center for Food Integrity report has insightful statistics about consumer trust issues and purchase patterns when it comes to food. It reveals how every consumer can be classified in a particular category. Peak Performers exert an outsized amount of influence on the market as a whole.
"This influence is why more Americans are flocking toward various attributes of food that they consider evolved and that signify progress," the report says. "We see that in the demand for food less processed, simpler labels and labels that indicate the product is “free from” everything from gluten to GMOs."
Not surprisingly, a large amount of Peak Performers fall into the millennial demographic. Many manufacturers are already reforumulating products and repositioning brands with this consumer segment in mind, and the report supports this strategy.
This doesn't mean, however, that food companies should ignore the average consumer. Mass-market consumers don't always have the same deep interest in organic produce and niche offerings, and could feel alienated by brands that target Peak Performers.