As Americans adapt to the changing situation, which now includes widespread shelter-in-place restrictions, many have changed the way they shop to minimize their time outside the home. In Week One of Glanbia Nutritionals’ research tracking consumer behaviour around food, respondents reported a marked increase in food and nutritional supplement purchases. Week Two results showed a purchasing decline for many items, indicating that consumers are now well-stocked.
For vitamin and mineral supplements, purchases were also slightly down (by two points compared to the prior week), but the percentage of respondents consuming them grew by a whopping 21 points (from 28 to 49 percent). In addition, 26 percent of vitamin and mineral supplement users reported that they increased their consumption of these supplements over the past week.
As consumers engage in a range of preventative measures to stay healthy, vitamin and mineral supplementation has emerged as a key strategy. The top health benefit for which consumers are taking vitamin and mineral supplements is general health at 64 percent, up from 59 percent the week before. The second most cited health benefit was immune system support at 37 percent.
Glanbia Nutritionals also asked consumers where they were shopping for various food and nutrition products. Options included traditional supermarkets, supercenters, limited assortment supermarkets (e.g., Aldi), organic/natural grocery stores (e.g., Whole Foods), club stores, convenience stores, and online.
Another shift in consumer purchasing behavior that’s on the radar is the transition to online food shopping. Between weeks one and two of the survey, Glanbia Nutritionals' researchers saw online grocery ordering with in-person pickup increase from 12.3 percent to 14.1 percent, while online ordering with home-delivery rose from 7 percent to 11 percent.
Stay on top of this and other fast-changing consumer trends by checking the regular weekly updates of Glanbia Nutritional's survey results. Read the full article here and contact Glanbia Nutritionals today to learn about other key findings from the survey and what they mean for food and supplement manufacturers.