A new Waitrose report uncovers key shopping, eating and drinking habits this year – based on millions of purchases in shops and online, and comprehensive new consumer research.
The report – the third annual Waitrose report looking at key food and drink trends – follows on from a series of in-depth focus groups in the summer, which were followed up with comprehensive new OnePoll consumer research. Trends highlighted in the report are supported with insight from Waitrose retail and food teams, as well as internal customer research and product sales.
The report reveals how half of us now shop more like we're on holiday; little and often, locally, and focusing on fresh food for tonight. Online shoppers choose twice as many cleaning and store cupboard products as in-store customers – freeing themselves to buy fresh baskets of food as they like. In London 40 per cent of Waitrose sales are after 5pm, as people buy dinner on the way home. Meanwhile, three in 10 people now visit a supermarket three to four times a week – up from a quarter of us five years ago.
Two-thirds of shoppers admit to being overwhelmed by the endless choice available – whether informal dining, music streaming or TV on demand. Families now keep certain nights free to eat together, or ban phones at the table. One in five have bought a meal deal this year, and littleWaitrose sales are up 25 per cent - as people limit the choices they need to make.
One-third of shoppers say pausable TVs and services like Netflix and iPlayer mean fewer TV dinners in the home. 'Grazing' options in Waitrose shops have surged by 23 per cent this year, and this casual approach is reflected in cooking with more sharing plates and informal meals.
When it comes to health, eight in 10 surveyed admitted to no longer liking to be told what's healthy and what's not. Sixty per cent have set themselves health rules this year. Of these, a quarter have committed to no alcohol during the week, 7.5 per cent have tried the 5:2 diet, and a third have cut down sugar – by far the most popular way to manage health in 2015. Many are doing this by choosing mini versions of their favourites – whether ice creams or bottles of wine.
Speaking on the new findings, Waitrose managing director Mark Price said, “Our research has uncovered a fascinating phenomenon. In this 'open all hours' culture, two-thirds of us say we feel overwhelmed by the proliferation of choice available, and feel the need to reimpose boundaries when it comes to family life. In this report, we outline key boundaries that have evolved and look at how people are, in different ways, replacing them with new ones.”
In other news, Waitrose has launched a new website selling a range of cookware, utensils, kitchen appliances, and cookery books. The Waitrose Kitchen website offers more than 3,000 products to online shoppers. The upmarket supermarket said it aims to grow its share of the kitchen market six fold between now and 2020.
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