10.25.2002

“HartBeat” is The Hartman Group's FREE online newsletter, providing insight, analysis, information and strategy to give business leaders the knowledge and vision to build sustainable brands.

For more Hartman Group articles on CHILDREN'S WELLNESS...

NATURAL SENSIBILITY

Embracing a Wellness Lifestyle Market Opportunity: An Alternative to Sugar-Stimulated Cuckoo Birds

"Mom, can I have this? Pleeeeze!": Opportunities in Children's Wellness



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This issue of HartBeat is excerpted from a recent N|sight Magazine, The Hartman Group's bi-annual publication exploring the dynamics of the health and wellness arena.

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Children's Wellness: making Decisions & Negotiating - Part Two

Mothers make most of the wellness decisions for the entire family and tend to lead the wellness charge (for more on Women's Wellness, click here), although children do in fact affect the way they shop and what they buy particularly with regards to foods and multivitamins.

Parents reason that if their child won't eat or take something that they don't like, it's a waste of effort and money. They are willing to purchase a product that has slightly higher sugar content or less beneficial ingredients if they think that their child will eat it. Since food is the primary source of nutrition, food quality ranks higher than supplement quality. All levels of wellness consumers encourage and allow their children to take part in making decisions at the shelf. While children may play a minor role in selecting certain staple foods such as produce, meat and bread, the majority of influence is, not surprisingly, in the packaged goods and dairy aisles. Parents say that this is where the characters and images come to life and entice youngsters to beg their parents, "Can I have this, pleeeeze?" Yogurt, pasta, cereals, crackers, chips, cookies and sodas rank highest in categories where children have the most opinions and/or influence for purchase.

All parents express dismay and irritation with the amount of advertising geared towards children in these categories, with the exception of yogurt and pasta, which are seen as less likely to be "loaded with sugar and preservatives." All parents say that if their children have a choice, they will "go for the one with all of the sugar in it" and that this is largely due to clever advertising, popular characters and "free" toys or posters.

I'm influenced if there's a picture that looks good, like sweets, or if it [the package] is explaining why I should get it. That happens with cereal a lot, but my mom is determined that we can't get anything over 10 grams of sugar so we usually just go for the bad stuff.
- Girl, Age 12

Parents are in control of nearly everything that goes into the basket and give their children an opportunity to exercise their decision-making skills and satisfy their yearnings for something sweet. Many parents have taught their children to read package labels and look for fat and sugar content prior to purchasing a particular product, this is especially true for cereals - the ultimate battle food.

Purchase Decisions
There are multiple reasons why consumers decide to purchase and adopt supplements, organics and natural products into their child's wellness regime. These same reasons also pose as barriers to purchase in many instances for those that do not buy children's wellness products.

The barriers of price and availability are the most significant for all consumers, but other dimensions come into play when considering a child's health and well-being as a trigger. The barriers that exist for prevention include price, availability, knowledge and expert opinion. These barriers are less dominant when treating a condition but only if recommended by a healthcare provider who can provide adequate knowledge and serve as expert opinion.

If all things are equal, parents involved in their children's wellness will increase organic and natural products into their lifestyle. Parents are anxious to adopt a "toxic-free" diet and environment for their child's physical health but most importantly, it satisfies their "peace of mind."

I'm just going to have to start buying organic food for her [baby daughter]. I personally have never ever really used organic things... she's got allergies as we know and stuff like that. It [non-organic food] might be a problem, so we're starting to use organic.
- Female, Mid-Level Wellness Consumer, Seattle

CONCLUSION
Parents placate their children with items that combine nutrition with taste or usefulness with style. In the case of food, parents feel that children ought to be more involved in creating their own tastes and choices - supermarkets are a good venue for this type of learning.

PART ONE: Children's Wellness: Who's Leading the Charge?

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