It is not only income or family composition that predict consumers’ shopping habits: the relationship people have with food also largely determines their buying behaviour. Deloitte maps five profiles.
Five personalities
Basic demographics such as income, age and family size have a big impact on what and how much goes into the shopping trolley during the weekly visit to the supermarket. But the relationship people have with food also matters. Those relationships can be diverse: from the person who sees food as a way to lead a healthier life to shoppers hoping to save as much as possible on their budget.
Deloitte set out to research ‘food personalities’. Research based on survey responses from 228,000 adults in 12 countries, shows that personality, independent of demographics, does have a predictive power for what people buy and how much they spend.
The study identifies five food personalities: frugal, health-motivated, convenience-seeking, food enthusiast (also called ‘foodies’) or eco-conscious. Each may possess different personalities but most of those surveyed (95%) recognised that they have a primary personality when it comes to food.
