The Impact of 'Hometainment' on Retail Food

'Hometainment' is a term coined as a result of COVID-19 bringing celebrations and entertainment to the home. The shift resulted in an uptick in consumption of retail food products. Celebratory eating is often characterized by consumers showing a greater willingness to spend more.

This webinar will look at several factors:

• The COVID-19 pandemic has directly impacted celebratory eating through the cancellation or forced smaller scale of celebrations around Easter, Eid and US Independence Day, to name a few key holidays, along with birthday celebrations, weddings, baptisms, workplace parties, etc. As social beings, however, consumers will always seek ways to celebrate these occasions.
• The impact on global real GDP in 2020 is set to be larger than in the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 crisis carries with it the added complexity of limits on travel and food service, meaning experience-focused eating needs to be satisfied through retail now. 
• Both the increase in unemployment and the need for many to work from home will provide consumers with time savings. Consumers may thus have less need for convenience food when it comes to celebrations. 
• As food service suffers, we may see more partnerships between restaurants and retailers. With travel limited, we may expect more product concepts emulating exotic flavors and foreign experiences to enjoy at home.
  

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David Hedin, Consultant at Euromonitor International with a focus on Food and Nutrition

SUSTA is excited to have David Hedin, the author of Euromonitor's Report, 'THE CORONAVIRUS ERA: ‘HOMETAINMENT’ AND THE NEW EXPERIENTIAL CONSUMER IN FOOD AND NUTRITION', as the featured speaker for this webinar. Based in Vilnius, Lithuania, David has more than seven years of experience in the industry. He designs Euromonitor’s global research within its Fresh Food system and Staple Food categories within Packaged Food. He also creates analysis on a wide range of top-of-mind topics among food and nutrition professionals such as plant-based eating, sustainability marketing and food innovation.
David advises clients across baked goods, fruit and vegetables, meat and seafood and breakfast cereals. He is an appreciated keynote speaker at conferences, including Anuga, HSBC ESG Conference, Food Valley Summit and WABEL.

David holds a MSc in Agricultural Business Management from the Swedish University of Agriculture and advises the Smart Protein consortium on protein consumer trends.