Health, Wellness, and the Female Shopper
It’s no secret that, when it comes to health and wellness retailing, women rule. Not only are they the ones buying most of the products — they’re also the impassioned voice driving many of the trends we see, from healthy kids’ options to better-for-you snacks and beyond.
So for retailers, it’s good to stay up on the latest consumer polls, like the one our parent company Penton, in concert with women’s lifestyle website iVillage.com, just released.
The results, which come from input submitted by close to 5,000 iVillage readers, aren’t surprising in a broad sense. But they do underscore the growing number of women saying they want to eat healthy, and then putting their ideals into action. Seventy-three percent of respondents, for example, say they read labels closely and are concerned about certain hot-button ingredients, like high-fructose corn syrup. And 50% say they look for specific health attributes like “low sodium” or “high in fiber” as opposed to general claims like “natural” and “organic”.
Here are a few other findings:
- 71% want to buy healthful products from mainstream grocers.
- 57% believe organic food is better for them.
- Only 26%, however, say they’ll go out of their way to purchase it.
- 39% say time is the biggest obstacle to healthful eating, followed by willpower and motivation.
The 71% figure should be especially encouraging to our readers. Indeed, that shows just how far supermarkets have come as wellness destinations — and how much further consumers want them to go.
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