While there are almost daily offers in place by retailers in relation to fruit & vegetables, almost two thirds (63%) of adults believe that retailers aren’t doing enough to make healthy food more affordable to them. Recent research on behalf of Retail Intelligence by Empathy Research, amongst a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+, sought to understand the financial challenges that trying to lead a healthy lifestyle can bring for consumers.
As well as feeling that retailers aren’t doing enough to make healthy food more affordable, two thirds (65%) of consumers claim that they have had to choose a food item which wasn’t as healthy as they would have liked because the healthier option was too expensive. Within this group of consumers, who have had to make this decision, almost a quarter (23%) claim that this choice is one they must make frequently.
The price pressure on consumers when it comes to eating healthy, is clearly evident, with almost 6 in 10 (58%) claiming that it’s becoming more expensive to eat healthily than it ever was, while just over 4 in 10 (43%) claim that they can’t eat the types of healthy foods they want to eat all the time because they cost too much.
This clearly suggests that there is work to do for retailers in the eyes of the consumer, but with retailers already heavily promoting fruit & vegetables, it suggests a need for further consumer education. Perhaps consumers are becoming too focussed on particular types of healthy foods and are losing sight of the value being delivered on the basic types of food needed to eat healthily.
For further information and more in-depth analysis in relation to the purchasing of healthy food and the challenges faced by consumers, please contact Robbie Clarke at Empathy Research. r[email protected]
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