Midan’s September 2022 survey included a nationally representative sample of 1,000 current U.S. pork consumers who have a variety of motivations and purchase habits. MaxDiff analysis was utilized and involved survey respondents performing a “best” and “worst” ranking on a set of 29 possible pork product attributes related to quality, production methods, sustainability, sourcing, purchase habits and more.
Price was, unsurprisingly, the most important factor for consumers when selecting a retail pork package for purchase. Forty-six percent of consumers said that price is their top factor and 61% ranked it as their top one or two when cooking at home. Price is also the most important factor when selecting a pork dish at a restaurant. Over half (53%) of consumers ranked price as their top factor and 68% ranked it as their top one or two when eating out.
Quality claims (28%) and raising claims (23%) were the second and third most influential factors overall, with around a quarter of pork consumers ranking each as a top-two influencer. When asked to put price aside and think solely about quality, the top attributes respondents selected were “No Added Hormones” (56%) and “All Natural” (55%).
Additional production claims also rose to the top as quality indicators with “No Antibiotics Ever,” “No Growth Promotants” and “Product of the USA” each signaling quality to about half of respondents. Further down the list were two tested attributes that the industry generally considers to be product quality indicators – 43% of consumers viewed “Premium” as a fresh pork quality claim and 42% said the same for “Prime.”
When presented with a list of production-related claims to evaluate for general familiarity, respondents were most familiar with “Disease-resistant” (30% familiar) and “Carbon neutral” (28% familiar). Millennial and Generation X respondents said they were most interested in learning more about disease resistant pork whereas carbon neutral pork was of particular interest to consumers with kids in the home.
More than 60% of U.S. consumers enjoy pork at least monthly and 51% at least weekly. However, segment growth could be driven by focusing future marketing efforts on those attributes that most directly resonate with customers.
Midan is excited to share more study learnings with the industry later this month. We’ll be offering a package that includes a technical research slide deck, written insights report and a one-hour walk-through of the deck by a member of our Customer Insights Team. Subscribe to the Midan industry email to ensure you are notified when our Pork Attributes research is released.
Midan Marketing, Pork Attributes Research, September 2022
