“For marketers and brands, consumer insight based on demographic patterns [alone] does not seem to be sufficient. To win the game of out-of-home consumption, they must gain a better understanding about the occasional needs of each [category of] consumer when they are away from home,” said Aitsanart Wuthithanakul, new business development manager of Kantar Worldpanel, which is a part of global media agency WPP.

Based on an online survey into out-of-home purchasing behaviour participated in by 2,000 individuals aged between 15 and 49 in urban areas, undertaken via the company’s mobile application, Kantar Worldpanel found that more than 70 per cent of respondents usually bought and consumed non-alcoholic beverages such as sport and energy drinks, ready-to-drink libations (tea, coffee and juice) and snacks (salty snacks, ice cream, biscuits, gum, and candy and chocolate) while away from home.

When looking further into details and purchasing times, the study found a number of interesting implications for marketers. For example, the urban consumers surveyed prefer to start the day with healthy drinks like ready-to-drink coffee, soy milk and milk, as well as energy drinks.

During lunchtime, they buy snacks like gum and candy, while from 2pm to 5pm, they seek out hunger fillers like biscuits, ice cream and salty snacks.

In the evening, they tend to eat foods such as salty snacks and chocolate while they are out.

“Given these findings, it is very important for brands to understand the occasional needs of particular groups of customers, in order to create a proper communication strategy to boost sales during a period of rising demand – for instance, via various promotional campaigns,” Aitsanart suggested.

Meanwhile, some businesses have already cashed in on the rising out-of-home consumption trend.

He cited the Eatigo mobile application as an example in this regard.

The app creator saw an opportunity among restaurant businesses, many of which normally suffer from low occupancy rates during working hours, and came up with a platform that put together in one place special deals for non-peak hours at registered restaurants in order to boost table occupancy. The Koko Krunch on-the-go package is another example of a business seizing a market opportunity, extending its operations from providing in-home breakfasts to out-of-home consumption, he added.