Wellness, health and nutrition from the consumer perspective
- 15.09.2013
- English Articles
- Beate Goetzke
- Sina Nitzko
- Achim Spiller
Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: November 23, 2012 | Revision accepted: June 05, 2013
Introduction
The desire for health and well-being has become a significant buying motive within the food market, and continues to grow in importance [1]. Consumers are increasingly aware of the different health benefits of various food products [2, 3]. The food industry has picked up on this trend and the proportion of so-called wellness products is constantly growing [4].
Experts from BBE Retail (a management consultancy specialized in retail sectors) classify the whole wellness market into the sub-markets food, health protection, beauty and fitness. The strongest growth has been seen in the food market, followed by beauty and fitness [5]. Between 2002 and 2006, the German population increased their expenditure on health food by 23 %. In the same period, the whole consumerproducts sector grew by only 5 % [3]. The growth in turnover of wellness-food is above all attributable to the demand for organic and low fat products [1]. In addition, functional food products such as probiotic milk use the promise of added health benefits to promote their products. This trend towards health, well-being and wellness can be observed not only in Germany, but also internationally [6].
Summary
The desire for health and well-being is currently highly valued by society. The term “wellness” is frequently used in this context; however, in every-day use it is not clearly defined and may be applied to health-related behaviour in various areas of life. Against this background, we carried out an online survey of 691 consumers in order to investigate which activities are associated with wellness, and which foods are perceived as “wellness foods”. In addition, we identified consumer types based on food consumption and wellness orientation.
In the context of wellness, consumers consider taking time for themselves, and spoling themselves, as important. Fruit and vegetables are the foods that are most strongly associated with wellness. We identified six consumer types – wellness-rejecters, wellness-indifferent, wellness-friends, wellness-functional food buyers, wellness-foodies, and wellness-organic buyers – that differed with regard to their wellness orientation and their consumption of organic and functional food.
Keywords: Organic food, functional food, wellness, consumers, health
