Consumer Aspects Relating To The Development of Functional Foods

INYS, Lund, November 29, 2006
Consumer aspects relating to the

development of functional foods
Klaus G. Grunert
MAPP – Centre for Research on
Customer Relations in the Food Sector
Aarhus School of Business
Dias 2 INYS, Lund, November 29, 2006
Overview
 The consumer view of food quality
 The perspective for functional foods
 Consumer-driven product development in the
functional food area
Acknowledgements:
 Joachim Scholderer, Tino Bech-Larsen, Helle Alsted
Søndergaard, Rasa Krutulyte, MAPP
 Projects SCANOMEGA, FUNCFOOD, CROSSENZ, SLUT
What consumers want from food

products
 Good taste
Good smell, good appearance, good texture…
 Convenience
In shopping, storing, preparing, eating…
 Naturalness
No GMOs, no E numbers, animal welfare, organic
production…
 Healthiness
Are consumers aware of the link

between food and health?
Which factors have most effect on your health?
90 Healthy and varied

eating
80
Exercise regularly
70
60 Avoid stress
50
Avoid smoking
40
30 Sleep regularly
20
10 Genetically determined
0
Avoid alcohol
Denmark Finland USA
Good intentions
I generally try to eat a varied and healthy diet
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Completely Disagree Neither Agree Completely
disagree disagree nor agree
agree
Good intentions
100
I intend to:
90 Exercise more
80 Eat more fruits and vegetables

Eat less sugar
70
Eat less fat
% consumers
60
Eat more fish
50
Smoke less
40 Drink less alcohol
30
20
10
0
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Completely Completely
disagree agree
Difficult implementation
100
In the last couple of months, I have started to:
90 Eat more fruits and vegetables
80 Eat less fat
70 Eat less sugar

% consumers
60 Eat more fish
50 Smoke less
Drink less alcohol

40
30
20
10
0
1. Not at 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Very
all much
Healthiness of food in daily life

Food-related thoughts of a sample of consumers during a
1 week period
400
285
300
200
100 1
0
Health Other
Thought content category

Importance of health at point of

purchase and after consumption
0,8
0,7
0,6
0,5
Sensory quality
0,4
Health quality
0,3
0,2
0,1
0
Before purchase After consumption
Health in consumer food choice

 Health is a major element of perceived quality
 But health is not top of mind in everyday food
purchasing and handling
 Many consumers believe that their diet is pretty
healthy as it is
 Consumers will not make compromises with
quality of life
− “If you had a life with enjoyment, if that’s steak and red
wine, then you probably had a good life”
 Health carries no reinforcement
 People don’t want to become ’too healthy’

What do consumers think about

functional foods?
100 Foods enriched with healthy ingredients are

healthier than normal foods
90
Foods enriched with healthy ingredients are
80 against my personal values
It is a good thing to enrich foods with
70
healthy ingredients
% consumers
60 I might start buying foods enriched with

healthy ingredients
50
40
30
20
10
0
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Completely Completely
disagree agree
The perspective for functional foods:

Trade-offs and synergies among quality criteria
 Health and convenience:

− The convenient way to healthy eating
 Health and good taste:
− Functional foods are still foods, and no
compromises with taste are accepted
 Health and naturalness:
− The problem with undesirable technologies
Health and naturalness

 “In a way I like that the food I eat is pure - that
nothing has been added”
 “I don’t think they should put more additives in
the food…even though they are not really
additives”
 “It makes me think of food being injected with a
syringe”
 “If people eat butter they know it is
unhealthy…and then the food manufacturers
develop something different…I think that’s
cheating”
Naturalness and
degree of processing
Organic Conventional Functional GMO

Carriers and ingredients: Natural

combinations are prefered
50
45
40
Omega-3
35
Fish oil
30 Vitamins
25 Minerals
20 Plant sterols
Caffeine
15
Fibre
10
5
0
Yoghurt Müsli bar Fish Tuna Baby Rye Liver
balls salad food bread paté
The perspective for functional foods:

The information problem
 Health benefits are invisible – they have to be

communicated in a way that is credible and
understandable
 Health claims are regulated
 Consumers are sick and tired of complex,
confusing and contradictory information about
what is healthy and what is not
 Consumers are confused
− by technical terms
− by verbal qualifiers like ’research shows…’, ’may
help…’
− by probabilities and risk statements
The need for simplification
100
90
80
70
60 no claim
50 physiological claim
40 health claim
30
20
10
0
no enrichment omega-3 oligosacharides
The limits of information processing

The limits of information processing

Nutritional
label
Ingredients Under- Decision-

Perception Evaluation Purchase
list standing making
Health
claims
Brand
Associations Affect Purchase
Appearance
Perspectives for functional foods

 Can draw upon the basic health motive and
consumers’ desire for convenience
 Need to take into account consumers’ desire for
products that are ’natural’ or produced in a
’natural’ way
 Are foods, and few consumers will trade lack of
taste for more health
 Are information-intensive products, and
communicating health benefits is a complex task

Consumer-driven product
development
 The right balance between exploitation of new
technology and a thorough understanding of
consumer needs
Consumer driven product

development
 Things to take into account
− Selection of health benefits
− Selection of carrier/ingredient combinations
− Framing of health-related messages
− Cultural differences
− Consumer segments
− The right technology
− Health branding approach
Cultural differences
Segments
Segment 1:
The as-yet
invulnerable
17%
Segment 2:
The
overeaters
15%
Non-adopters Segment 3:
51% Segment 4: The well to-do
The 12%
challenged
5%
The right technology
Example: Attitude to enzyme production systems
1,00
0,50 Finland
(ipsative values)
Attitude
0,00 Germany
-0,50 Italy
-1,00
Non-GM plants GM plants Non-GM GM microbes
microbes
Enzyme production system asked about

Health branding
 Building up strong, unique and favourable health-
related brand associations
 Consistency – product appearance, sensory
properties, labelling, advertising, PR, use of
symbols all have to support the health message
 Credibility – alliances, endorsers, back-up of
scientific evidence
Consumer driven product

development
 Things to take into account
− Selection of health benefits
− Selection of carrier/ingredient combinations
− Framing of health-related messages
− Cultural differences
− Consumer segments
− The right technology
− Health branding approach
More info
 http://www.mapp.asb.dk

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INYS, Lund, November 29, 2006

Consumer aspects relating to the

What consumers want from food

Are consumers aware of the link

Which factors have most effect on your health?

90 Healthy and varied

I generally try to eat a varied and healthy diet

80 Eat more fruits and vegetables

80 Eat less fat

70 Eat less sugar

60 Eat more fish

Drink less alcohol

Healthiness of food in daily life

Thought content category

Importance of health at point of

Health in consumer food choice

 The consumer view of food quality

What do consumers think about

100 Foods enriched with healthy ingredients are

60 I might start buying foods enriched with

The perspective for functional foods:

 Health and convenience:

Health and naturalness

Organic Conventional Functional GMO

Carriers and ingredients: Natural

The perspective for functional foods:

 Health benefits are invisible – they have to be

The need for simplification

The limits of information processing

The limits of information processing

Ingredients Under- Decision-

Associations Affect Purchase

Perspectives for functional foods

 The consumer view of food quality

Consumer driven product

The right technology

Example: Attitude to enzyme production systems

Enzyme production system asked about

Consumer driven product

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