5 Food Trends That Are Influencing Women Buyers

This month’s insights are all about the topic of food trends. We asked women from our trusted panel of parents to tell us their views on some changing trends in food, grocery shopping and home cooking. Read on to find out more about 5 Food Trends That Are Influencing Women Buyers and to download our free insights report.
This month’s Insights report gives feedback from women and insights into their views on some key food trends. To gather this, we partnered with Innovate Solutions who carried out an online survey, then ParentsandBrands ran an online focus group with our trusted panel on our private platform.
5 Key Food Trends Stats
4 online questionnaires composed of 24 questions were distributed by Innovate Solutions to consumers around Ireland, bi-weekly, over an 8 week period. The first survey was conducted w/c 16th March 2020. Each survey was active for a week and the total number of overall responses was 2,435, gathered from a panel of 1,100 consumers.
Key stats for 5 key Food Trends:
- Snacking: 62% of people are snacking more than usual
- Home Cooking: 67% are looking up recipes online
- Food Waste: 44% are producing less food waste at home
- Frozen Foods: 31% said their consumption of frozen foods had increased
- Buying Irish and Local: 63% declared a tendency to buy from Irish businesses while shopping
Online Focus Group Insights
An Online Focus Group was carried out on the ParentsandBrands private platform in May 2020 with 30 women from our trusted panel from across Ireland.
Here are some of the key insights and feedback:
Snacking
“I thought I wasn’t snacking too much…. I was delusional! Got on the scales and frightened the life out of myself. So, much healthier snacks and food in this week’s shop.”
Frozen Food
“When lockdown started, I stockpiled on frozen food that I’m trying to use up now. I am trying to cook more food in batches and I think I will try to continue to cook in batches from now on. I just keep forgetting that things in the freezer have an expiry date, although ice cream and pizzas will never be left in there too long!”
Food Waste
“I think our food waste for 1 week increased as I did a clear out of presses etc. However apart from that week it has decreased. I find we are wasting less fruit, salad and turkey/ham slices. Plus with no school lunches we aren’t getting back half eaten sandwiches or mushy bananas etc.”
Home Cooking
“I find as we are shopping less often I need to be more prepared. We are definitely trying new things as I’ve more time at home! I’ve also noticed a lot less waste in the house as I’m much more conscious of planning based on what we have in our press or fridge. Lots more fresh meals!”
Buying Irish and Local
“I’m definitely making an effort to buy local and support local businesses. I’m supporting neighbourhood food and local honesty shop. I’m watching labels more in the supermarket and trying to buy all Irish foods. I’ll definitely try to continue this as after lockdown and have a newfound respect and value for local producers.”
Key Recommendations for Brands and Businesses
- Women want high quality useful content on brand websites. How can you create this for them?
- Encourage customers to give reviews of your product or service online, ask staff what feedback they are getting, talk to customers/encourage dialogue. If you implement a suggestion, attribute it so customers can see that you listen and value their input.
- Think about any little things you could add to your service or product delivery that would impress and delight customers.
Download This Month’s Free Insights Report
For more stats and insights into what food trends are influencing women, download this month’s free Insights report on 5 Key Food Trends That Are Influencing Women Buyers.
In the report you’ll get in-depth survey stats, drill-down insights and recommendations.
Would you like these types of insights for your business? Use our panels of engaged women and our dedicated private platform to gather critical insights to help influence women to deliver long term profitability. Contact us now to find how we can help.