Retailers may target ‘fitness’ consumers, hints survey

"There is an opportunity for food manufacturers and retailers to be a solution-provider to the weight-conscious Indian consumer,” says Adrian Terron, executive director, retailer & shopper, Nielsen India. He should know. According to Nielsen Global Survey conducted between March-April and August-September 2011, consumers in cities like Delhi and Mumbai are shifting towards natural and organic foods while aiming to reduce intake of processed foods.

Nearly 77% of consumers who wish to lose weight are cutting down on fatty foods and about 67% of them are focusing on reducing intake of chocolates and sugar. This is lower than the survey findings in 2008, when over 80% consumers making dietary changes were consuming less fatty foods, and over 70% were consuming less sugar.

And 42% of online consumers in urban India find themselves overweight. For 79% of these consumers, exercising is the most preferred option to control their weight with dietary changes being the next most popular option at 65%, the study suggests.

Slightly more than half of urban Indian consumers claim to regularly shop for whole grain, high fibre products and purchase iodine enhanced cooking salt, followed by buying cholesterol reducing oils (37%) and fruit juices with added supplements. Yoghurts, soy milk and drinks containing ‘good’ bacteria appeal to only over a tenth of consumers surveyed.

“The urban Indian consumer is still focused on being healthy but more seem to think that physical exercise is more effective than dietary changes. This is in contrast to the developed world where dietary changes are preferred,” says Terron.

About 11% of Indian consumers do not understand the nutritional labeling on food packaging while 37% claim to understand it only in part.

Consumers also have distrust and confusion over health claims labeled on product packaging. The more authentic and trustworthy the food labeling, the more likely shoppers are to buy these items. Whereas ambiguous claims are viewed with suspicion and shunned.

The survey conducted with more than 25,000 Internet respondents in 56 countries also shows that globally, approximately half of all consumers surveyed (48%) are trying to lose weight and of those, more than three-quarters (78%) are trying to lose weight through dieting.