Gen Z Anxiety, Packaging Ick Influence Purchasing Decisions

Gen Z “is driven more by anxiety than almost any other generation in the U.S. has ever been—that is including things like World War II and World War I,” said Menu Matters president Maeve Webster during an education session at the Summer Fancy Food Show. “Those were short periods of anxiety that were condensed, then ended, but now it's becoming a more sustained period of anxiety.”

Webster and Menu Matters VP Mike Kostyo contend that this pressure has made its way into many aspects of members of Gen Z's purchasing behavior. They presented the Summer Fancy Food Show session “The Retail Revolution: Decoding the New Consumer Path to Purchase,” on the Big Idea Stage, Monday.

The duo cited research from The Food Institute that found that 86 percent of Gen Z experience some form of anxiety, and 48 percent feel anxious all the time. Some of this pressure is derived from food, with 60 percent noting they feel pressure to eat a certain way to "show" they are healthy, 25 percent feel pressure related to food choices they make from strangers on social media, and over 66 percent feel like their eating patterns are wrong, according to a report from Ketchum.

“As a result, Gen Z is more likely than any other generation to attribute negative emotions, and less likely to attribute positive emotions, to food,” said Webster.

Kostyo explained that specialty food businesses are uniquely positioned to help reduce this generation’s anxiety, but that it is important to understand that these anxieties fundamentally change the way brands need to speak to them.

“I don’t think there is a better industry to bring people together than our industry… there is a positive light at the end of the tunnel that we have a roll in,” he said. Webster added that Gen Z suffers from the highest levels of loneliness and isolation.

They recommended positioning one’s specialty product in a way that minimizes their anxieties.

Packaging: Right Size, Strong Descriptors

Webster and Kostyo also provided information on how consumers across generations are purchasing products.

A recent Menu Matters survey of over 1,000 Americans showed that purchases were triggered by having a craving (44 percent), tasting a sample (25 percent), eye-catching displays (23 percent), eye-catching packaging (22 percent), seeing someone eating or drinking it (22 percent), and/or smelling it (21 percent).

On the other hand, these respondents recorded the following food and beverage packaging turnoffs: 34 percent cite too much packaging, 32 percent say packaging feels weird, 32 percent note boring descriptions of taste or flavor, and 31 percent are turned off by not having enough information on the product’s background or story. These packaging modifications can greatly improve a product’s chances of being picked on shelf while addressing consumer needs.

“Do not put the word delicious on the product. It’s a very boring descriptor that doesn’t describe the product,” said Kostyo.

Kostyo and Webster recommend that brands empower themselves with the data to make informed decisions that acknowledge where the consumer is at, and what they ultimately want.

“Be very thoughtful about how you’re communicating to consumers and the terms that you are using, who you’re targeting, why you’re targeting them, what their anxieties and issues are, and how you are solving for them,” said Webster. “Not just with your product, but how you are positioning it, and [addressing] why you are talking about the solution you are offering them.”