Food Forward Trends: What's Online Influences What's On Plates in Asia Pacific, but Personal Relationships & Interactions Still a Big Factor in Food Culture 

Published

 

Weber Shandwick released Asia Pacific Food Forward Trends Report II, which reveals that online engagement is reshaping the way consumers in the Asia Pacific region shop, buy, prepare and share their experiences with food, although personal experiences and interactions still matter alongside the increasing influence of digital media.

up close image of food

The report uncovers several trends across four countries — Australia, China, Korea and Singapore — that provide insight about how food brands and retailers in the region can better engage audiences, including:

  1. the impact of social media on knowledge, insight and cooking confidence;
  2. the slow but steady adoption of online shopping in the grocery sector;
  3. the impact of increased convenience and influence of popular food culture on the home chef; and
  4. consumer scrutiny of the influence of celebrity endorsements.

 

Highlights of the report include:

  • The increase of healthy home cooking options, prevalence of home delivery services and the growing influence of popular food culture are giving Asia Pacific home chefs plenty of reasons to eat at home. In Australia, three quarters (76%) of respondents eat a home-cooked meal on most days. Meanwhile, Chinese consumers are more likely (50%) than their Singaporean (40%) or Korean (34%) counterparts to eat a home-cooked meal during the week.
  • Consumers are also increasingly more comfortable using digital platforms to purchase food. Over the past 12 months in particular, there has been a noticeable shift in online food shopping habits. More than three out of four respondents in China (76%) and more than half of respondents in Singapore (58%) and Korea (52%) said they had increased their online food shopping in the past year. In Australia, nearly half (46%) of respondents said the same.
  • Social media and food are very well connected, with four in ten consumers in Singapore (40%) and Korea (42%) and six in ten consumers in China (62%) posting about their food experiences on social media once a month, or more; 17% of Chinese respondents and 8% of Koreans post at least once a day. Australians are less active with just 29% posting once a month or more.
  • “Our Asia Pacific Food Forward Trends Report II reveals that access to information and shared experiences through the continued growth and sheer number of digital and social platforms in the region continues to shift people’s relationship with food and the way in which they engage with food brands,” said Ian Rumsby, Chief Strategy Officer, Asia Pacific.

 

The complete Asia Pacific Food Forward Trends Report II is available here.