Home Meal Replacement Market Segmentation: A Food-Related Life Style

The Home Meal Replacement (HMR) sector has been growing rapidly in the food industry. Due to the conveniences that the HMR product offers, the target consumers are generally busy workers and/or individuals who live alone. This study aims to investigate factors that affect the purchasing of HMR products and to formulate strategies for future HMR product sales. This study examines the effect of five independent variables: dine-out frequency, dine-out costs, and the employment status of housewives, involvement of meal preparation, and the role of overload on HMR purchase behavior. The study also examines what influences the purchasing of HMR products through different kinds of lifestyles. Surveys were conducted with a panel of housewives from major metropolitan areas in South Korea and configured by clusters according to different lifestyles. The panel of housewives was divided into four groups based on Food Related Lifestyles: Price Insensitive Group, Pride in Cooking Group, Indifference to Health Group and Against Eating Out Group. The results indicate that HMR sales target segments are consumers who tend to dine-out more and desire a low involvement in meal preparation than consumers who are busy and have less time to cook at home.