Rockville (MD) — More than half of U.S. adults claim they really enjoy cooking (53%) and more than a third consider the kitchen to be the most important room in the home (35%), according to data in the new report Eating Trends: Cooking & Food Shopping from market research firm Packaged Facts. These percentages are up compared to a decade ago.
Packaged Facts found that most people who don’t cook at home either have a lack of time to grocery shop and meal prep or they lack confidence in their cooking skills. The latter reason is especially prevalent among Gen Z adults (ages 18-24) and to a lesser extent Millennials (ages 25-39).
The meal kit industry is arguably the best example of a food industry segment that’s making it easier for adults to start cooking more at home again. The products are marketed to emphasize several advantages that pique consumer interest and encourage cooking at home. Meal kits appeal to important consumer segments, namely:
• busy consumers who don’t have time to shop for groceries or plan meals
• high income consumers who don’t want to or like to shop for groceries or plan meals and are willing to pay more for convenience
• consumers who have few cooking skills but who want to learn to cook
• consumers who live alone or in a small household, who don’t like wasting food and want proportions tailored to their needs
Online grocery services provided by Amazon Prime Pantry, AmazonFresh, Instacart, and Peapod—among others—have also proven to be time savers for aspiring home cooks. Since 2013, online sales of groceries have more than tripled from $6 billion to $20 billion in 2018 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26%. Through 2023, online grocery sales are forecast by Packaged Facts to rise 34% annually, more than quadrupling from the levels in 2018 and coming to represent 7% of the total grocery market.
Worth watching in coming years will be how grocers and food retailers capitalize on contextual commerce (also known as connected commerce, voice commerce, or conversational commerce). Contextual commerce offers consumers options ranging from buy buttons to messaging bots and voice assistants to scan-and-bag apps. With contextual commerce, consumers have the opportunity to make purchases anytime or anywhere with a button click if they choose but even more conveniently with just their voices. Ultimately, the goal of contextual commerce is to expand retailers’ reach, allowing them to effortlessly implement purchase opportunities into consumers’ daily activities and natural environments. Much like meal kits and food ecommerce, it’s ultimately another step toward saving home cooks time.
About the Report
Eating Trends: Cooking & Food Shopping (published 07/2019, 79 pages) is available for $995 from Packaged Facts. The report is the companion to Eating Trends: Mealtimes and Snacking (published 05/2019, 34 pages).
Media members please contact our Communications Manager Daniel Granderson atdgranderson@packagedfacts.com for a copy of the report summary. Those interested in purchasing the report can contact Research Specialist Frank Gaines at fgaines@marketresearch.com or visithttps://www.packagedfacts.com/Eating-Trends-Cooking-Food-Shopping-12540764/.
Eating Trends: Cooking & Food Shopping provides a compact overview of continuity and changes in U.S. adult cooking and food shopping patterns between 2008 and 2019.
The report features trended data and current key demographics for the following topics:
- Household Grocery Expenditures by Demographic (age, ethnicity, household income, and more)
- Use of Online Grocery Shopping (including use of Amazon Prime Pantry, AmazonFresh, Instacart, Peapod, Google Express, and meal kits)
- Attitudes and Behaviors Related to Cooking (importance of kitchen in home, willingness to try new recipes, and more)
- Attitudes and Behaviors Related to Eating (eating local foods, eating freshest ingredients, eating easy to prepare meals, eating fast food, sitting down to eat meals together, and more)
- Cooking-Based Hobbies and Entertainment Choices (barbecuing, cooking for fun, tailgating, searching for recipes on the internet, using tablet computer as a cookbook, and more)
About Packaged Facts
Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com, publishes market intelligence on a wide range of consumer market topics, including consumer demographics and shopper insights, consumer financial products and services, consumer goods and retailing, and pet products and services. Packaged Facts also offers a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased at our company website and are also available through MarketResearch.com.
