Research: Breakdown of Calorie comparisons
In the last 6 months we have performed an open online survey on FoodEssentials.com to learn about what people care about when looking at and comparing food labels. In total we have recorded the results of over 30,000 unique sessions and have a vast amount of data to analyse. We will be releasing regular summariesof the data over the next few months. In this post we will explore what people are looking at when they have compared products by Calories.
Calories Overview:
Calories was the number one most compared variable at 6.3% of all comparisons (638530). This was closely followed by Gluten (4.6%), Preservative (3.8%), Sodium (3.7%), and Fiber comparisons (3.6%). As can be seen by just these results, Calories was significantly more popular a comparison than the others – and this comes by no surprise.
Calories by Aisle:
The table below shows the top 5 Aisles as compared by Calories. As can be seen a significant amount of all Calorie comparisons (15.5%) take place under the Snack, Cookies and Candy aisle and this represents 5.8% of all comparisons in that aisle which is quite standard compared to the other aisles. The aisles listed in the table below exactly match the Most Popular Aisles as reported in a previous post.
Calorie Comparisons by Aisle |
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| Rank | Aisle | Cal Comp | % of cal comp | Total Comp | % of Total comp |
| 1 | Snacks, Cookies & Candy | 6239 | 15.5% | 106815 | 5.8% |
| 2 | Drinks | 4431 | 11.0% | 83882 | 5.3% |
| 3 | Dairy | 4335 | 10.8% | 80384 | 5.4% |
| 4 | Soups & Canned Goods | 4190 | 10.4% | 74241 | 5.6% |
| 5 | Bakery | 2951 | 7.3% | 45063 | 6.5% |
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Second Tier Comparisons when compared by Calories:
When Calories is selected as the variable to compare, 75% of the time it is the only variable that people compare by. The table below outlines what else people compare by the other other 25% of the time.
Top 5 Overall second tier comparisons when Calories has been compared |
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| Rank | 2nd Tier Comparisons | Comparisons | % |
| 1 | Gluten | 1314 | 12.9% |
| 2 | Fiber | 795 | 7.8% |
| 3 | Sodium | 737 | 7.2% |
| 4 | Preservatives | 735 | 7.2% |
| 5 | Colors | 632 | 6.2% |
Most commonly, Gluten is also compared when calories has been selected (12.9%). In fact this grouping of Gluten and Calories has been corroborated in much of our research. One speculation as to why this may be the case is that upon comparing a list of products that do not contain Gluten, users then often choose to narrow down that list by comparing by Calories to find the lowest-calorie-gluten-free product.
Second Tier Comparisons when compared by Calories by Aisle:
To delve a little deeper into the data we will briefly explore the second tier comparisons by Aisle. The first table below outlines the second tier comparisons for the SNACKS, COOKIES & CANDY aisle, where as the second table does so for the DRINKS aisle
SNACKS, COOKIES & CANDY Aisle |
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| rank | 2nd Tier Comparisons | Comparisons | % |
| 1 | Gluten | 347 | 12.3% |
| 2 | Preservatives | 180 | 6.4% |
| 3 | Sodium | 144 | 5.1% |
| 4 | Sugars | 130 | 4.6% |
| 5 | Colors | 114 | 4.0% |
DRINKS Aisle |
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| rank | 2nd Tier Comparisons | Comparisons | % |
| 1 | Preservatives | 220 | 8.5% |
| 2 | Aspartame | 161 | 6.2% |
| 3 | Sugars | 154 | 6.0% |
| 4 | Gluten | 140 | 5.4% |
| 5 | Sodium | 132 | 5.1% |
As can be seen in these tables the second tier comparison can vary dependent on which aisle one looks in to. Compared to the overall second tier comparisons there are also some differences, for instance the Snacks aisle has Sugars (4.6%) (highlighted in red) as a top second tier comparison. More dramatically the Drinks aisle has preservatives (8.5%), Aspartame (6.2%), and Sugars (6.0%) as the top 3 second tier comparisons which differ quite significantly from the overall top 5 second tier comparisons.
Another point of interest is the fact that in both aisles a second tier comparison is performed over 50% of the time as opposed to only 25% of the time which is the overall average.
More Data:
The above post is a simple snapshot summary of the data available about Calories and products containing calories. The full report, and custom reports are available through FoodEssentials Corporation – contact us for more information.
FoodEssentials LabelBase database is available for access upon subscription - contact us for more information on LabelBase licenses.
FoodChoice data was captured during a survey of over 30,000 people actively using FoodEssentials.com over the last 6 months.
Possibly Related Posts:
- FoodEssentials Scanner now in private Beta
- LiveRight with Shoprite(R) teams withFoodEssentials
- Building Loyalty with Health & Wellness
- Research: Most Popular Aisles and Food Categories by Food Comparisons
- Research: Overview of the Most Popular Food Comparisons
