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Midan Marketing Segments Meat Consumers To Understand Trends

Midan Marketing Meat Consumers

Last updated on June 13th, 2024

In an effort to help retailers understand customers who purchase meat, Midan Marketing conducted an updated segmentation study of meat consumers in the U.S.

The study, conducted in late 2018, is the second edition of segmentation research Midan Marketing conducted in 2016, which provided key insights into six distinct meat consumer groups.

According to Midan Marketing, meat consumers are constantly evolving due to changes in the U.S. population, including younger generations with diverse ethnic profiles and attitudes.

Concerns such as grass-fed beef, no antibiotics and plant-based meat alternatives that were emerging in 2016 now are consumer priorities. In order to remain relevant, Midan Marketing repeated its segmentation study two years later.

The firm surveyed a national sample of 1,200 U.S. adult consumers age 18 and older who had eaten meat or poultry—beef, pork, chicken or turkey—in the past three months. With the addition of new topical areas moving from fringe to mainstream, the total number of segments shifted from six to five and their defining attributes evolved.

The goal of segmentation research is to bundle people with similar traits together into a single group or segment. Each of the five segments identified by Midan Marketing holds a discrete set of beliefs and attitudes and exhibits a specific combination of behaviors.

The segments and their characteristics (from most engaged to least engaged):

1. Rising Flexitarians: Love all proteins, especially red meat; trendsetters looking to experiment; increasingly replacing red meat and poultry with plant-based proteins; busy and budget-conscious.
Insight: This is the love ’em and leave ’em group; you’ll have to work harder to remind them of meat’s benefit.

 

2. Family-First Food Lovers: Enjoy red meat (with nothing added); believe grass-fed is better than grain-fed; love to cook and explore in the kitchen; mealtime equals togetherness.
Insight: You’ll need to woo this group with recipe inspiration and a romantic brand story.

 

3. Aging Traditionalists: Red meat center of plate; aware of claims but not a key driver to purchase; least likely to explore plant-based proteins.
Insight: Stay the course and remind this segment about meat’s nutritional profile.

 

4. Convenience Chasers: Look for convenience first; little interest in claims or health; price-conscious, coupon- and promo-seekers.
Insight: Be quick with this group; they are time-pressed, distracted and want easy meal solutions.

 

5. Wellness Divas: Trying to eliminate red meat from diet; prefer chicken and plant-based proteins; extreme claim seekers; very health- and wellness-focused.
Insight: Up your claim game to reach and educate this segment.

As Midan notes, being able to target different segments of meat eaters who are customers can help improve the bottom line for producers and retailers.

Identifying and targeting the five unique consumer segments can help producers and retailers increase sales by customizing messaging to specific customer segments. Also, it can help producers and retailers identify gaps in their product portfolios. Segmentation can help producers and retailers stay ahead of the competition by keeping current with the constant changes in the meat-eating population.

Midan’s five segments measure how engaged contemporary protein eaters with red meat. The firm can segment specific customer targets using a unique set of questions that identifies which of the segments they fall into. Click here for more information.

Midan Marketing is based in Mooresville, North Carolina.

About the author

Shelby Team

The Shelby Report delivers complete grocery news and supermarket insights nationwide through the distribution of five monthly regional print and digital editions. Serving the retail food trade since 1967, The Shelby Report is “Region Wise. Nationwide.”

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