Velocity uncovers ready-to-eat food habits in India

• Over 68% of respondents still prefer the neighborhood grocery & provision stores for their staples
• Allergies followed by stress, overweight & obesity and constipation are the key health problems encountered personally as well as among family members.

Velocity, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cross Marketing Inc., a Tokyo stock exchange listed company unveiled their latest study report to uncover changing habits in food consumption, buying and related health in India. This study has been conducted in association with Dt. Silky Mahajan; Foods & Nutrition Clinic, India.

The study was conducted across a sample size of 500+ adults spread across the top 5 metros with an equitable distribution of male and female participants. The study involved qualitative in-depth interviews to garner meaningful insights on an intrinsic human need, which is food consumption and the impact of global influences and emerging trends on the same.

The study aimed to cover 4 key areas which include food consumption habits, transitioning attitudes towards food, critical health concerns stemming from food consumption and food-related purchase behavior.

Adds Jasal Shah, Managing Director & CEO of Velocity MR, “This study reflects the need for marketers to fine-tune their offerings with the transitioning times. It is clearly evident from this research report that food consumption and related habits in India are constantly changing and is not the same as to what it used to be as recently as a year ago.”

He adds “In a fast-changing consumer market, marketers have always felt the need to understand insights in real time. Velocity championed this detailed study and it was born out of the conviction to provide insights and meaningful research quickly from all parts of the world to help marketers and companies make meaningful decisions in real time.”

Adds Dt. Silky Mahajan, Founder & Nutrition Expert, Foods & Nutrition Clinic “Food consumption patterns are transitioning the world over and are being impacted by varying factors ranging from technological advances, lifestyles, occupational habits, climatic conditions and virtually anything that can impact an individual. We have conducted this pan India study to better understand what are the key social phenomena driving this change in the Indian context. Nutrition practitioners like me and my colleagues need such data to keep us up to date and to stay abreast of such trends.”

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE STUDY:

Out of Home Vs. In-Home Food Consumption

• Almost all the Indian consumers have breakfast, lunch & dinner on a regular basis and the consumption of brunch and late night meal is relatively less compared to other meal items
• All the meal types are generally consumed at home except for brunch & evening mid-meal which are consumed equally at home as well as outside home
• Men eat outside more frequently as compared to women

Main Meal of the day and who heads the kitchen

• More than 3/4th of the respondents consider either lunch or dinner as the main meal of the day with almost half the respondents claiming lunch while one fourth claiming dinner to be their main meal of the day
• More than a third of respondents, predominantly females claim sole responsibility for kitchen in the house
• Contrary, 18% respondents, predominantly males, claim they never take part in any meal preparation which reflects the general familial trend where women are responsible for kitchen work

Attitudes & Habits towards Food

• Majority of the respondents prefer having homemade food and avoid eating outside as much as possible with females being more health conscious as compared to men
• People in the early working age group of 25-29 years are more health conscious than others
• A sizeable proportion of respondents claim to have less control over their caffeine intake (22%), non-vegetarian intake (16%) and junk food intake (13%)
• People in Kolkata have lower control over unhealthy food consumption over people in other centers

Personal Well Being

• Allergies followed by stress, overweight & obesity and constipation are the key health problems encountered personally as well as among family members. Among family members, the incidence of high BP/ hypertension is also seen to be high
• Those who have less control over their junk food intake suffer more from Constipation & Migraine headaches while those whose Non-vegetarian food consumption is uncontrolled suffer more from constipation

Purchase Behaviour

• The traditional method of purchase which is neighborhood grocery & provision stores still continues to be the most preferred purchase destination with almost 68% respondents claiming to purchase for the same
• A new trend is also seen to be catching up among consumers in Urban India with almost 44% respondents claiming to be shopping from Mall based supermarkets like Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, Star Bazaar, etc
• Web shopping too seen to be catching up in all the centers except Kolkata while people in the 30-35 years age group try out all the methods of grocery purchase compared to others

ABOUT VELOCITY

Velocity is a tech-savvy insights provider with a Global Presence, providing Proprietary Panels, Real web-based CATI, a Strong Field Force, Responsive Client Servicing capabilities and is armed with Unparalleled Research Capabilities. The brand was unveiled officially by Mr. Sanjoy Datta, President MRSI during the MRSI 26th Annual Market Research Seminar at ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru on February 20, 2017.
Velocity is today one of the youngest and highly tech-oriented Research Company globally. In a world where unstructured data is flowing in all directions, understanding distinctive consumer behavior towards brands is getting tougher and tougher. The company supported by Cross Marketing Inc. Tokyo has some of the finest brains in the industry along with the best available technology platforms to deliver world-class research solutions to clients. The integration of technology coupled with high-quality data imparts speed, hence providing a ‘Quick turnaround time’ in collating, analyzing and interpreting research data.