Chicken purchasers in the United States cite more positive attributes than buyers of beef, pork, fish and plant-based meat proteins, according to new research presented on July 22 at the 2019 Chicken Marketing Summit in Charleston, South Carolina.
The National Chicken Council (NCC) and WATT Global Media presented the results of a study that explored the drivers for grocery purchases of chicken compared to other meat and plant-based proteins. IRI provided supporting data from its retail databases. The study was commissioned by the NCC and conducted online by IRI from July 1-10, 2019, among 780 adults. A full copy is available by clicking here.
Chicken Checks More Boxes
Buyers were asked about attributes in eight categories: taste, health, versatility, family appeal, value for price, natural/organic/absence of negative (hormones, antibiotics), sustainable and convenient.
Chicken buyers choose it for 7 of 8 of these attributes.
All meat buyers are driven by taste, yet taste is a less important driver for the plant-based consumers. Fish is purchased for health and convenience reasons.
Consumers of chicken, beef, pork and fish reported that their trust in the overall safety, quality and nutrition of these meats has not changed. While 15% of chicken consumers say their trust in chicken has increased, 55% of plant-based meat consumers say their trust in that protein has increased.
Top Trends Driving and Disrupting Meat
Chris DuBois, senior vice president and principal at IRI, and Joyce Neth, vice president, director of audience development and research, WATT Global Media, presented data supporting these four trends:
- Convenience and simplification
- Sustainability
- Protein growth
- Ecommerce and new technologies
Convenience: Chicken is an all-around winner on the majority of preparation-related attributes. All protein types are perceived as easy-to-prepare. More traditional meats (chicken, beef, pork) show advantage in family appeal and tradition (grew up eating it), while the plant-based protein advantages lie in safety, preparation ease and the cleanliness aspect of preparation.
Sustainability: Plant-based consumers show the strongest drive from sustainability. “Recent NCC research shows that half (49%) of survey participants indicated a willingness to eat more chicken if they learned it is more sustainable than other meats or meat substitutes, which shows that most people aren’t familiar with chicken’s sustainability story,” according to Tom Super, NCC senior vice president of communications.
Protein growth: Across the store, products with protein claims have grown 9%, with frozen meals leading the way.
New technologies: Smart speakers, retail robots and endless aisles through ecommerce are changing the customer experience. Retail-as-a-service will change the supply chain for retailers.
Future Consumption Intent
Less than 2% of chicken consumers intend to consume less chicken in the next six months. While the future consumption intent is steady for the traditional meat proteins, both fish- and plant-based meat shows more positive consumption intent, with 23% of fish and 44% of plant-based consumers planning to consume more of those proteins in the next six months.
The National Chicken Council is the non-profit trade association headquartered in Washington, DC that represents US chicken producers, the companies that produce and process chickens raised for meat. Member companies of the council account for more than 95 percent of the chicken sold in the United States.
