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Search New report spotlights how the consumer industry can boost healthier eating around the world
PARIS, 1st July 2020 – Today, The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), together with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Nielsen Global Connect, published a revealing report on the state of consumer health, nutrition and wellbeing around the world. How the Consumer Industry Can Boost Healthier Eating, marks the first in a series of reports from CGF’s Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition–a global movement led by manufacturers, retailers, public health authorities and academic institutions to empower global consumers to adopt healthier lives.
To create this report, CGF and BCG amassed 15 interviews from global CEOs within the retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. To gather a robust, global snapshot of today’s consumer, Nielsen Global Connect and BCG in 2019 , surveyed 7,000 global consumers from China, France, Mexico, Turkey, the UK and the US, across a wide range of demographics. The result: a comprehensive study that captures powerful and telling global sentiment from both the consumer and business landscape.
“Health is becoming a business imperative. By taking CEO and citizens’ perspectives, this report enables us to understand how companies can take action on their own and with others to have a meaningful impact. We invite everyone to join the Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition to build a more sustainable and inclusive economy”, said Isabelle Grosmaitre, One Planet. One Health Initiatives Catalyst, Danone and Marcus Osborne, Vice President, Walmart Health, and CGF’s Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition Co-Chairs.
KEY INSIGHTS
According to the How the Consumer Industry Can Boost Healthier Eating Report:
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Price Outweighs Access as Top Consumer Barrier to Eating Healthy
Despite 80% of consumers citing price as a barrier to buying healthy food, 85% said they would shop more often at a retailer that is actively promoting healthy solutions. That said, it should be stated that low-income or rural communities were the most likely to feel they were not achieving a healthy lifestyle.
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Achieving a Healthy Balanced Diet is a Global Struggle for Consumers
Nearly one-fourth (23%) of consumers admit to struggling to achieve a healthy, balanced approach to diet
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Consumers, CEOs Recognise Diet and Hygiene as Key Health Metrics
CEOs stated that a healthier diet is both a moral and a business imperative for the industry. In fact, interviewed CEOs believed their most material impacts on consumer nutrition would come from increased transparency and health education, proactive company actions—especially in affordability, formulation and the accessibility of healthier foods—and the use of government regulation to ensure a level playing field. They felt that some of these initiatives would be effective in isolation, while others would benefit from industry or industry-government collaboration.
“Consumers have become increasingly interested in health and wellness in recent years, yet a myriad of hurdles often get in the way of intention matching action”, said Olivier Lamare, Retail Leader, Nielsen. “As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shift consumer habits toward the price- and health-conscious, retailers and manufacturers have an opportunity to win on transparency, price and taste–and help fuel healthier lifestyles”.
Khaled Tawfik, BCG Managing Director and Partner, said, “We at BCG consider Collaboration For Healthier Lives important for three reasons: the broad commitment from manufacturers, retailers, public health institutions, civic societies, and academics to contribute to a common goal of healthier consumption; its practical impact through working on the ground where people shop in the localities; and its potential to scale impact through working together, lifting and shifting what works across geographies, and digitally activating efforts to reach the younger population. Our research confirms that consumer expectations of the industry on this topic are high and we are very happy to support the CGF and its members on this important topic”.
The full report is available online at CGF’s Global Learning Mechanism.
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About The Consumer Goods Forum
The Consumer Goods Forum (“CGF”) is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 3.5 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises more than 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.
About Boston Consulting Group
Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we help clients with total transformation—inspiring complex change, enabling organizations to grow, building competitive advantage, and driving bottom-line impact.
To succeed, organizations must blend digital and human capabilities. Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives to spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting along with technology and design, corporate and digital ventures—and business purpose. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, generating results that allow our clients to thrive.
About Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global measurement and data analytics company that provides the most complete and trusted view available of consumers and markets worldwide. Nielsen is divided into two business units. Nielsen Global Media, the arbiter of truth for media markets, provides media and advertising industries with unbiased and reliable metrics that create a shared understanding of the industry required for markets to function. Nielsen Global Connect provides consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers with accurate, actionable information and insights and a complete picture of the complex and changing marketplace that companies need to innovate and grow.
Our approach marries proprietary Nielsen data with other data sources to help clients around the world understand what’s happening now, what’s happening next, and how to best act on this knowledge.
An S&P 500 company, Nielsen has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.
For further information, please contact:
Boston Consulting Group
Eric Gregoire, Global Media Relations Senior Manager, BCG
[email protected]
T +1 617 850 3783
Nielsen
Genevieve Aronson, VP Communications, Nielsen
[email protected]
The Consumer Goods Forum
Lee Green, Director, Communications, The Consumer Goods Forum
[email protected]
