Study „ My Food Personalisation and nutrition”

The trend towards personalisation of food and nutrition also poses a variety of challenges for the confectionery and snack industry. The three-part study "My Food - Personalisation and Nutrition" by the DLG (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft - German Agricultural Society) provides answers to key questions. With the help of consumer, company and expert surveys, the acceptance and relevance of personalised offers in the food industry were highlighted. The DLG study is divided into three publications: "Personalised Food", "Personalised Nutrition" and "Personalisation in Food Shopping and Nutrition Apps".

Personalised foods are products that are adapted by manufacturers to meet personal customer needs. To this end, manufacturers usually offer customers various options on how they can have the products adapted to personal taste, ingredient, shape, packaging design, quantity or preparation preferences. The personalisation of products is becoming a global megatrend in business and society. Even though the food industry has traditionally been characterised by a very wide range of products, personalised products are in demand. Digitalisation and flexible manufacturing systems are putting companies in an ever-better position to adapt to customer needs. Compared to standard products, personalised food can increase customer loyalty and willingness to pay, among other things

The study results show that offers for personalised food and nutrition concepts are interesting for many consumers. Against this backdrop, it is to be expected that dealing with the possibilities, opportunities and risks is a topic that will occupy many organisations and companies from the food or nutrition industry and the health sector intensively in the coming years.

For grocery shopping and nutrition, digital offers are being developed in the form of apps or robots that generate suggestions for shopping or consumption in real time based on consumers' personal characteristics and needs in order to simplify everyday life. For the future, it is to be expected that both offers for personalising the shopping experience in grocery stores and nutrition and food apps will become increasingly widespread. This will presumably also be accompanied by a change in food search and purchase behaviour, which will bring new opportunities but also risks for food producers and retailers.

Currently, two forms of personalised food are offered: Either they are adapted by manufacturers to consumers' personal taste, ingredients , shape, packaging design , quantity or preparation preferences when ordering or purchasing. Or, with so-called "modular systems", consumers themselves have the opportunity to assemble their desired product from a set of different varieties, ingredients or building blocks at the point of sale. Sweet mix offers are well-known examples. It is interesting for consumers to be able to mix their own sweets from different varieties or ingredients in the supermarket.

Detailed information, implementation ideas, consumer opinions and digital starting points at: https://www.dlg.org/en/myfood