A new report has highlighted the growing trend towards on-the-go eating. Datamonitor’s recent findings emphasize how consumers are continuing to deal with ever more demanding time pressures – by choosing fast, convenient food over traditional eating habits. However, emergency snack options are no longer good enough, as consumer expectations have risen in line with health awareness.
A new report from Datamonitor highlights that eating is no longer considered a primary activity, with food-on-the-go becoming increasingly ingrained in out lives. Rising time pressures on consumers’ professional, social and domestic lives is creating an environment where certain compromises increasingly have to be made. Instantaneous communication from email and mobile phones demanding constant attention have not only increased the pace of life for most, but has filled a lot of ‘non-professional’ time which has traditionally been dedicated to planning and running one’s daily life. As priorities shift away from traditional meal occasions, consumption is fragmenting into more frequent and smaller occasions with food eaten in more diverse locations.
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Snacking now functions on two levels. Impulse snacking still remains popular as a time to indulge in treats between meals. However, the growth of ‘meal snacks’ has risen as consumers seek a functional response to the growing tendency to skip meals or eat them on-the-go. As a result, a greater number of foods are set to compete for share of on-the-go consumption, especially those that have typically been confined to in-home consumption such as soups, pasta and salads.
Almost all major manufacturers now have their own on-the-go versions. In the light of all this activity, it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete for a share of on-the-go expenditure. As on-the-go versions become more established, consumers will increasingly view the ‘convenience’ aspect of on-the-go formats as a given. For manufacturers, this means it will become more important to meet consumers’ other demands, such as fun, interactivity or variety that fit with their motivations at different times of the day.
There is a very strong connection between functional food and drink and the on-the-go occasion, which could be exploited more fully. A major opportunity exists to target nutraceutical solutions at consumer’s daily stresses and strains, which are being compounded by increasingly hectic and pressured lifestyles.
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