Premiumization and Everyday Value(s) 2025: Prioritization of Personal Relevance
Consumers are more engaged with food and beverage culture than ever before: they’re scrutinizing ingredients, seeking additional wellness benefits, exploring culinary trends and aspiring to more sustainable choices. As expectations of quality have evolved, a new definition of premium has taken root.
“Premiumization and Everyday Value(s) 2025” explores contemporary food quality from the consumer’s perspective: defining attributes and values, category nuances, occasion dynamics, the role of brand and premium’s interplay with value.
Published January 2025 | Report length: 75 pages | U.S. market coverage
- Executive summary
- General report (PowerPoint and PDF)
- Demographic data tables (Excel)
- Primary quantitative research: Online national survey fielded October 17–24, 2024, n=2,173 U.S. adults aged 18-78. (MOE) ±2.1 pts at 95% confidence level.
- Primary qualitative research: Digital ethnographies: n=13 participants. Multi-day immersive engagement (journaling, prompts, photos and videos) via asynchronous virtual platform. Follow-up in-depth interviews: n=9 selected from digital ethnography participants for 60-minute follow-up 1-on-1 interviews.
- Methodology
- Executive summary
- Premium defined: Cultural meanings and evolution
- Occasions, Categories, Sourcing and Brands: Premium is for all occasions and can be found everywhere
- Premium Value: Relevance and experience create premium value and priorities
- Recommendations: Key practices for pursuing premium
- Appendix: Category details and the New Value Paradigm
- Defining premium. What are its differentiating themes (e.g., culinary distinction) and associated attributes (e.g., small batch production)?
- Consumer skews. Are more consumers oriented toward certain values within premium (e.g., wellness, sustainability, culinary distinction) than others? How do these consumer groups look similar or different from one another?
- Category relevancy and nuances. What premium trends might impede or ignite growth in certain categories (e.g., meat, seafood, dairy, frozen foods, produce, bakery, center-store)?
- Occasion dynamics. What are the occasions and contexts when people are navigating premium needs?
- Role of brand. What are the do's and don'ts of building a premium brand today?
- Interplay with value. Which premium attributes do consumers care most about and/or are willing to pay more for?
