consumer research


CUSTOMER INSIGHT N


Mike Hill reports on the findings and analysis from the ninth annual HAFOS survey into consumer attitudes towards health and fitness


inety-five per cent of people now believe exercise is important to their health, up 1 per cent on last year – this


according to the latest national Health and Fitness Omnibus Survey (HAFOS). The only regular industry barometer of


UK consumers’ attitudes towards, health, fi tness and physical activity, HAFOS is now in its ninth consecutive year. A street-based consumer survey, it uses a national sample of over 2,400 people interviewed in 10 locations throughout England and Scotland. The fi ndings are benchmarked against a rolling average of results from the previous fi ve surveys. The ‘activity is important to my health’


fi gure has in fact remained consistently high over the last fi ve years. Similarly stable, though, is the number of people who nevertheless fail to put this awareness into action: every HAFOS survey has shown that about half of the adult population would like to be more active than they currently are. The 2010 survey is no different – only 42 per cent of respondents felt they exercised as much as they would like. As a sector, we


have to ask ourselves how we can turn this awareness into desire and then action.


older and wiser? Worryingly, older age groups still tend to


think that exercise “is not for them”, with the percentage of over-65s wanting to be more active significantly lower than among younger age groups (see Figure 1, below right). As people grow older, they feel they don’t need to exercise as much, when in reality it often becomes more important for them to keep active. In order to change this perception and attract the grey market, the industry must adapt its educational and marketing messages to target this growing percentage of the population.


getting active When asked how much physical activity


they had actually done, it’s interesting to note that percentages are the same as in last year’s report. A concerning 20 per cent of the population stated that they hadn’t managed any 30-minute sessions of moderate exercise recently, while 61 per cent said they had done three or


more sessions a week. Of these, 20 per cent claimed to have done five or more. Although the number of people


claiming to have achieved the three times a week and fi ve times a week 30-minute targets appears to have plateaued this year, HAFOS has seen a steady increase in both measures – up around 15 per cent over fi ve years. However, recent research – carried


out as part of the Department of Health’s Health Survey – raises a


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january 2011 © cybertrek 2011


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