What Can The Industry Learn From High-Purchasing Ethnic Groups?
By Jim Prevor, Editor-in-Chief, Produce Business
It is always interesting to see that households made up of members of particular ethnic groups exceed the national averages for fresh produce purchases. Those retailers who already serve these consumers well know that they are big purchasers and a big market.
For the overall industry, however, the interest encompasses broader questions: Will members of these groups continue to out-purchase the average American as time goes on? Can other consumers be brought up to these higher levels of purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables?
The answer to these questions depends crucially on why purchases are so high among these four ethnic groups compared to the national average. Here, unfortunately, we don’t have enough information.
Professor Govindasamy points to some clear reasons why the numbers may be as they are, namely that the ethnic numbers only include people who made at least some purchases and who bought some ethnic items.
The study also is not controlled by household size. So the primary grocery shopper may be purchasing for a larger number of people. It is also an expenditure study, not a consumption study, so if these ethnic families eat at home more frequently and so the national average reflects consumers who eat out at restaurants more often, that would also account for some of the numbers.
This is all meaningful because, if the reason for higher purchases is more children in the family or letting granny live with the children and grandchildren, there is no obvious path for the produce industry to take to bring procurement levels up to the norms of these ethnic groups. Pro-natalism — the belief that promotes human reproduction — seems unlikely to be a viable produce industry position. Even a goal of inducing a relative drop in foodservice consumption and seeing a revival in retail seems very ambitious as an industry goal.
Maybe some of this is just pricing. Perhaps these ethnic groups cluster in urban areas with higher food prices, and thus, higher produce expenditures. Or maybe more recent arrivals in America aggrandize their station by fictionally reporting high purchases. We don’t know.
One does suspects that there are powerful cultural influences at work here. Perhaps the primary shopper spends more time shopping because the family goes to the market together. Perhaps there is a cultural expectation that the family will have home-cooked meals. Perhaps the family’s taste buds desire foods and flavors not readily available unless cooked at home.
One reads this study and yearns for more data. Diving deeper into the produce expenditures of the following cohorts would reveal much for the industry:
• Immigrants vs. the second and third generation
• Urban vs. suburban vs. rural
• A cross-hatch against income and household size
Left to speculate, we would think that these high numbers would drop as we move into the second and third generations. All the characteristics that make for distinctive purchase patterns will start to dissipate as the American melting pot reduces the differences between members of these four ethnic groups and the general population.
The great hope for the produce industry is that the melting-pot analogy is correct and that just as these ethnic groups change — perhaps having smaller families, eating out more and enjoying many American staples — so the rest of America will change, perhaps adopting a more fruit- and vegetable-based diet and reducing the percentage of calories from meats.
The question is whether retailers and the broader industry encourage this shift through marketing and promotion. They can, but whether they will is a different question. The problem is that most marketing is about maximizing sales or profits this week or this year. This is about deciding to market to open consumers to the idea of more produce-centric eating, an effort that might pay off big — but over years or decades.
Sometimes, it is the very presence of particular ethnic groups that can change eating habits. Americans came to love Chinese food and Italian food because there were immigrants to open restaurants and introduce America to these dishes and flavor profiles. Many a consumer came to love mangos because a local ethnic group justified a large display at retail.
Perhaps this kind of research is most helpful as a kind of prod to the imagination. It reminds us that consumption patterns are not fixed and that purchasing can change dramatically as families evolve and culture is transformed.
The final question is: Do we have the wisdom to use our time, money and intelligence to not merely boost this month’s P&L but to shape consumption patterns for generations to come?