Food lifestyle patterns among contemporary food shoppers

To obtain a comprehensive picture of current food lifestyle patterns, this study aims to identify consumer segments with a focus on health-related considerations, and to profile segmented consumers based on demographic characteristics. As an adaptation of the food-related lifestyle instrument, consumer segmentation indicators in this study capture four dimensions: ways of shopping; importance of quality aspect; healthy eating; and health practice. Nationwide data targeting U.S. food shoppers were collected from June 2016 to November 2019 (N = 20,827). Latent class analysis, a probabilistic model-based segmentation approach, identified five distinct food lifestyle segments: passionately involved consumers (11%), nutrition-focused consumers (30%), moderately involved consumers (17%), convenience-oriented consumers (21%), and uninvolved consumers (21%). This pattern has differences as well as similarities with the one reflecting U.S. food shoppers in 2003 and those identified in Europe. In addition, these segments are made up of consumers with different demographic and regional characteristics. U.S. census regions, such as East South Central and West South Central, where there is a higher obesity prevalence, tend to have a larger portion of uninvolved consumers and a smaller portion of highly involved consumers (passionately involved and nutrition-focused consumers). The resulting food lifestyle segments, consumer profiling, and regional comparisons provide insights into effective marketing communication and consumer education on healthy eating.