Auckland, New Zealand—There are five distinct consumer segments, and opportunities to better serve their unique needs. That's according to new research from Fonterra’s wellbeing nutrition brand Nutiani, which partnered with Ipsos to survey 5,950 people across seven global markets on their perceptions and behaviors toward health and wellbeing. The findings appear in the second volume of the company's Global State of Health and Wellbeing report. 

The 5 consumer segments are:

  1. Proactive Pursuers adopt a scientific and highly disciplined approach toward food. They will pay more for products they believe in. This group make up the largest segment of global consumers.
  2. Relaxed Cosmopolitans are too busy to worry about diet. They don’t feel sufficiently knowledgeable to choose the right healthy foods. Still they do try to favor natural, unprocessed foods.
  3. Practical Worriers are concerned about physical and mental health. They focus on making manageable lifestyle changes and prefer a simple, traditional approach to eating healthy.
  4. Activity Seekers prefer to manage their health through physical activity. They view nutrition as fuel for exercise.
  5. Balanced Seekers know some factors are beyond their control, so they take a practical, balanced approach to health to keep doing the things they enjoy.

About the consumer segments:

  • Four out of the five segments don’t feel sufficiently knowledgeable about healthy foods to make the right choices. This results in barriers to managing their nutrition, according to the findings. The other group, the Proactive Pursuers, are held back by conflicting information on available products.
  • Consumers are increasingly seeking sustainably sourced and produced products. They believe the responsibility is on manufacturers to create environmentally friendly value chains. Most segments also prefer natural and less-processed foods, which are associated with having a lower environmental impact.

Opportunities for brands:

"Although consumers are recognizing the importance of nutrition to achieve holistic health, existing solutions are not adequately addressing gaps in trust and information as well as emerging sustainability preferences,” said Dan Luo, Director of Active Living, Fonterra. “The commonalities in these unmet needs offer opportunities for innovation and consumer education to encourage them to adopt healthy diets.”
Charlotte Ortiz, Global Brand Marketing Manager, Nutiani, added, “There is a need for brands to develop tailored solutions with products and strategies that speak to consumers’ unique motivations while addressing the challenges they are facing.”