Consumer behavior has changed within all sectors of society amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Industries on the other hand will have to restructure their strategies in order to adjust to the changing market requirements.
Consumer demand for organically produced goods continues to show double-digit growth, providing market incentives for U.S. farmers across a broad range of products. Organic products are now available in nearly 20,000 natural food stores and nearly 3 out of 4 conventional grocery stores. Organic sales account for over 4 percent of total U.S. food sales, according to recent industry statistics.
Research of Consumer Behavior
One key nutritional difference between conventional and organics is their antioxidant content. Just like the Stanford study, the new analysis also found that while conventional and organic vegetables oftentimes offer similar levels of many nutrients, organic foods have fewer pesticide residues. Organic fruits and vegetables can contain anywhere from 18-69 percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown varieties.
USDA does not have official statistics on U.S. organic retail sales, but the information is available from industry sources. U.S. sales of organic products were an estimated $28.4 billion in 201, over 4 percent of total food sales. That will reach an estimated $35 billion in 2014, according to the Nutrition Business Journal.
A recent survey at Statista discovered that only 15 percent of Americans do not fill their shopping carts with organic food. Close to a third of U.S. consumers from the wealthiest 33 percent of households prefer organic products. Also, richer consumers are more likely to be willing to pay more for organic products or those that are marked as natural. Moreover, it is interesting to see the larger San Francisco area has the highest share of consumers who buy organic from any U.S. metropolitan area.
Source: Statista
This statistic shows the usage of organic foods in the United States in 2020. The data has been calculated by Statista. Therefore, we can draw a conclusion that the organic food market is taking a double growth in the food market.