ACNielsen study throws light on consumer behaviour while dining out

Company Release, April 12

MUMBAI

Indians, like people the world over are increasingly “outsourcing” their dining needs to restaurants, street sellers, cafes, fast food shops and convenience stores! While they have taken onboard all the healthy food consumption messages, and are motivated to be guided by them, they lack the ability to consistently make lower calorie choices while eating out of home, according to a ACNielsen | LifeChoices ;21 market study conducted by ACNielsen.

According to ACNielsen’s list of fastest growing categories studied in the FMCG year-end review health concerns underpin Indian consumers, leading to a 25% growth in the packaged food category.

“Eating out” will continue to become more significant as Indians work longer hours than before; the increase in the number of working women and decline in number of large family units will continue to increase out of home consumption of the main meal. Quality will remain a key factor in controlling market share, as Indian consumers will continue to opt for products that can be purchased on a weekly or fortnightly basis, as opposed to earlier purchasing of farm produce or local unpackaged groceries on a daily basis”, said Sarang Panchal, Executive Director ACNielsen, South Asia (Customised Research)

ACNielsen | LifeChoices was a qualitative, in-depth study of a total of 84 groups of women of different social status – young working women, women of broad middle class and mothers with children under 10 – in 21 markets. The common characteristic of all of them was that they bought food and drinks out of home (snacks, take-away and dine-out) five times a week or more. (See Table 1 for market list)

Women see the out of home food industry, as an enabler of modern life and without it, would not be able to fulfill their current roles. But concurrent with the rise in out-of-home dining, has been an increase in population weight gain.

“In almost all countries covered in the LifeChoices study, women were very motivated to eat more healthily, specifically to prevent weight gain. Even without a cultural or personal dislike of being overweight, there is a strong inclination to eat healthily for their, and their family’s, well being,” said Panchal.

“The overall awareness however doesn’t translate into a corresponding ‘healthy’ choice when they are under time pressure with lives too busy to always make the most healthy food choices for themselves and their families. Moreover, when presented with a range of out-of-home food and drink options, they are often unable to say which would be higher or lower in calories,” said Panchal.

The ACNielsen study also showed that while they have many good general principles for healthy eating, women are not equipped with knowledge that would allow them to make accurate distinctions between the calorie values of different foods in the many varied out-of-home eating situations they are faced with in their daily lives.

As the survey reveals, young adults of India who are staying away from home and family, no longer cook at home, as the food they can buy outside the home is thought to be cheaper and convenient.

“Given the growing importance of out-of-home eating, our lack of understanding to assess relative calorie values of foods and drinks, could be putting us at risk of obesity over our lifetimes,” Panchal added.

Though Indian mothers appears to be relatively more health conscious and try to follow some rules to maintain good health, young adults usually follow weight control rules rather than obesity avoidance regime temporarily. The moment they get back to their desire level of weights they get back to their usual eating habits.

In Hong Kong and Turkey where obesity levels are relatively high, women seemed to be less concerned about obesity, which did not spontaneously emerge in the study as a concern when they make their out of home dining decision.

The ACNielsen study found health messages such as “eat a balanced diet” are well absorbed and people have practices they follow to ‘balance’ their diet. For instance, following eating out of the home – which they usually regarded as ‘less healthy’ - they may balance by attempting to eat less food, or ‘more healthily’, for the next meal or the next day, or compensate by having healthier snacks at home.

Perception about what ‘healthy’ food means also varies by country. In Indonesia for example consumers equate healthy food with eating outlets of good hygiene and presentation standards, while in moredevelopedmarkets like New Zealand, consumers strongly relate healthy food to its nutritional composition.

ACNielsen identified some core problems in how people make decisions that may contribute to obesity

Interestingly, the guidelines they follow don’t always lead them to the best choices such as “if it’s got vegetables in, it will be less likely to make me put on weight”. Many women interviewed were under the impression that Asian food and local or ethnic food were less likely to lead to weight gain than Western food, while in reality, interestingly, the actual calorie values of these non-western food were often more.

The other misperception is that many believe that foods make them put on weight because of what it is, rather than how much there is. Hence it is likely that they often over-emphasize the role of portion content and don’t put enough emphasis on portion size.” said Panchal.

Worryingly, the survey found that while concerned about small amounts of weight gain, respondents regard serious obesity and its resultant health problems was only a distant threat.

In general, women believe weight gain is a personal responsibility, but they also worry about their children most. “As living standards improve and populations become wealthier, food that used to be taken only on special occasions is more widely available and affordable and therefore more frequently consumed.”

In Korea, women also tend to blame the growing obesity problem on changes in food culture, to eating more out of home, particularly western style fast food, fried food, soft drinks and snacks. Americans also blame the need for convenience – more driving, more drive thrus - and the super sizing of portions etc.

Is change too hard?

Out of home consumption behaviors are highly habitual and seldom change. But the ACNielsen study also showed that consumers will change established habits in the right combination of circumstances. In fact, out-of-home eating behaviors may be quite easy to change.

Women are primarily impacted by two factors – friends and trends.

“Peers drive a lot of our out-of-home food decisions. When we go out, we usually follow our friends’, rather than our parents’ habits. Where and what to eat is often socially driven. “Which place is good to eat” is a frequent and lively conversation topic particularly in the Asian markets who are also the people eating out-of-home the most. And, all around the world, there are women discussing what is good to eat for health, to lose weight, what the latest food scandal is, and so on,” commented Panchal.

Being aware of, and keeping up to date with, trends is important too – going to the new place, knowing what the specialty dish is, or knowing the out of the way place only to the fortunate few.

“Partners or husbands can also play a role in changing women’s eating habits or choice of food for them and their families.,” said Panchal. “It is at this stage of life that people are most open to and impacted by health trends and information. Media such as magazines (most common), and especially recently with stories on the obesity epidemic, television, are common sources of information.”

In India, ‘friends’ stand out as the important factor that concern the Indian women most if they were fat. Teasing by friends for being fat is the most important call to check weight for most young adults.

More help needed

Consumers see the solution to this problem being based around information, education, increased choices, and greater personal responsibility, said Panchal

“Free choice in food and drinks is a very personal issue and one that people care deeply about. While many people would not mind an opportunity to tell others what to eat or drink, they want to be left alone to make their own decisions – or mistakes, if that’s how they feel that day. Therefore, there is little support for influencing food and drinks choices through taxation or legislation”.

The ACNielsen | LifeChoices study found that there are opportunities for out-of-home food retailers, manufacturers and organizations responsible for health communications, to work with consumers to help them manage their out-of-home eating and drinking in ways less likely to lead to obesity.

“Assisting more people in making better choices in more frequent situations is one way the obesity epidemic could be turned around,” said Panchal.

About ACNielsen | LifeChoices

LifeChoices 2005 is a global ACNielsen study of how habitual out-of-home eating and drinking behaviour becomes established; the heuristics underlying them, and the impact of weight gain concerns in modifying choice.

ACNielsen | LifeChoices provides unparalleled insight for marketers interested in the broader dynamics of out-of-home food and drinks choice today, and in the context of obesity. In-house research is usually narrowly focused in an area of choice or moment of time - why product A at time B - whereas LifeChoices allows clients to ‘zoom-out’ for a bigger picture of out of home consumption behaviour.

About ACNielsen

ACNielsen, a VNU business, is the world's leading marketing information provider. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the unit provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behavior. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns. To learn more, visit www.acnielsen.com.