How do pets, music preferences and kids affect the likelihood of organic purchases? Earthbound Farm did a survey to find out.
“Organic should and can be for everyone,” said Deverl Maserang, president and CEO of the San Juan Bautista, Calif.-based company, in a news release. “We’re thrilled these results show a growing and diverse community of people who choose organic fairly frequently.”
Of the more than 500 consumers surveyed, a whopping 40% said they plan to increase their household’s organic consumption in 2019. Forty-seven percent said they buy organic food for their households at least some of the time.
Along with inquiring about the organic purchasing habits of consumers, Earthbound asked them a series of lifestyle questions.
The results indicate pet owners are more likely to buy organic than people who do not own pets (53% versus 37%), and sports fans are more likely to buy organic than people who said “I don’t do sports” (49% versus 41%). Shoppers who said they will listen to any kind of music are the most likely to buy organic, followed by folks who listen to rap or hip hop.
Sixty-seven percent of organic consumers surveyed said they are likely to eat organic at dinner, with 62% saying the same for lunch and 56% for breakfast.
Households with kids. Earthbound’s survey found people with children at home were more likely to buy organic (52% versus 41%).
Shoppers with younger children appear to place more value on feeding organic. Forty-three percent of parents with children ages zero to 5 said it is very important they eat organic food, compared with only 29% of parents with children ages 11 to 18.
When on snack duty, 71% of parents said it would be somewhat or very important to provide organic food to classmates or teammates.
Levels of support. Twenty-four percent of organic shoppers said they are “loud and proud” about choosing organic, while 10% said they keep their preferences “under the radar” and 66% described themselves as “easygoing” about talking with others about eating organic.
The survey found men were much more likely, 18%, than women, 7%, to keep their organic ideals private.
Shoppers in the south-central states were most likely to declare themselves “loud and proud” about their organic food choices. Only 8% in mountain and Pacific states described themselves this way.
Looking ahead. Earthbound’s survey found 22% of people said the amount of organic food their household eats has increased somewhat in the past year, while 11% said it has grown significantly. Overall, only 11% of those surveyed plan to decrease their household’s organic consumption in 2019.
