New report out: Out-of-home, out of mind?

New report out: Out-of-home, out of mind?

Kantar Worldpanel’s new report on out-of-home (OOH), published today, reveals that OOH consumption makes up nearly half (41%) of global spend on snacking and non-alcoholic beverages. In some categories, such as coffee, purchases outside the home make up as much as 70% of total spend, exposing a significant opportunity for retailers and manufacturers not currently considering OOH strategies. 

The report analyses data from Kantar Worldpanel consumer panels in Brazil, China mainland^1, France, Indonesia, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Thailand and the UK. It also throws light on contrasting purchase behaviours at a local level. 100% of China consumers are active in the OOH market, spending on average $160 annually over 84 individual trips. Here, modern trade accounts for 43% of all spend away from home. 

Unique regional patterns for OOH

The report finds that OOH purchase behaviour is most developed in the UK, where shoppers spend an average of $525 annually on away from home purchases—almost double that of Spain, the market with the second highest spend ($225). 

Thailand’s shoppers are the most frequent OOH buyers, with 214 trips on average per year—more than once every other day. The UK is close behind (199), followed by Mexico (105) and Spain (102). 

Where does OOH happen?

The hotels, restaurants and cafes (horeca) channel performs strongest in Europe, with 83% of Portuguese OOH spend and 60% of Spanish spend outside the home happening in horeca locations. 

Outside of Europe, impulse channels and traditional trade make up a large proportion of OOH spend. In Brazil, 36% of snack food purchases away from home happen in impulse channels, whereas 85% of total OOH occasions in Indonesia occur in traditional marketplaces. 

Table 1: Out-of-home versus take-home spend (snaking food and non-alcoholic drinks)

Table 2: Out-of-home annual purchase behavior 

Chart 1: Where do out-of-home purchases happen? 

OOH is incremental to modern trade 

$2 out of every $10 spent in modern trade is done outside the home. 

As modern trade (hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores) continues to proliferate in developing markets, there has been a knock-on effect for OOH consumption. In Thailand and Mexico, consumption outside the home accounts for more than half the total modern trade spend in snaking food and non-alcoholic drinks (59% and 55% respectively), followed by China mainland (39%) and Indonesia (38%). 

Maria Josep Martínez, global Out-of-home director, Kantar Worldpanel, said: “Each country has unique customs, which makes adapting OOH offerings across regions difficult. People shop across different channels to meet different needs, and local trade landscapes have a big impact on purchases outside the home. There is no one-size-fits-all approach 

“Brands have an opportunity to review behaviour in each market, understanding key differentiators and channel structures. For retailers and manufacturers willing to take on the challenge of creating an out-of-home strategy the rewards can be significant.” 

Jason Yu, Managing Director of Kantar Worldpanel Greater China, said that out-of-home market is getting increasingly vital for brands if they want to unlock incremental growth opportunities.   The rise of diversified lifestyles and on-demand purchase behavior are presenting new challenges.  Winning brands will have to pick the right channel to build favorable association between brand and specific consumption occasions.