This is a final research report from Hort Innovation’s historical archives. Please note that as these reports may date back as far as the 1990s, the content and recommendations within them may be superseded by more recent research.

What was it all about?

This was the Final Report for project MU09009 Mushroom Consumption Analysis, which was undertaken by Freshlogic using the Mealpulse™ consumer panel. The project operated over four quarters Q2 2010 – Q1 2011, ending 31 March 2011.

The purpose of the project was to assess aspects of mushroom purchasing patterns, consumption and household penetration to establish measurement benchmarks and potentially extend some qualitative research to guide further investments in marketing.

This involved the incorporation of a series of mushroom specific questions into the Mealpulse™ food shopper panel operated by Freshlogic for a 12 month period. The questions collated answers from respondents on the use of shopping lists, frequency and quantity of mushroom purchasing and methods of preparation. Through the Docketdata capacity of Mealpulse™, which collated details of purchase receipts, details of product types and quantities were able to be confirmed.

This buying and consumption specific data was then linked into a model of the mushroom supply chain. This in turn allowed the level of household penetration, the number of shopping trips and the quantity per trip to be confirmed by reconciling with the mushroom volumes supplied.

This provided a complete mushroom market profile and enabled a set of measurement metrics to be defined to track the commercial impact of investments in mushroom consumption which were used by industry and other interested parties.

Key annual outputs included:

• 67.4 per cent of households purchased mushrooms at least once every 4 weeks.
• The average purchase quantity per trip (as per docket data) was 267 grams.
• 61 per cent of shoppers always or often used a shopping list.
• 43.5 per cent of mushroom buying households prepared mushroom meals weekly.
• 88 per cent of mushroom buying households used mushrooms in cooked dishes.
• Over the year there was an average of 76 retail promotions per quarter involving mushrooms Promotions were heaviest in winter.
• 91.5 per cent of households purchased fresh vegetables at least once every 4 weeks.
• Individual households made between 22.1 and 26.6 mushroom shopping trips over the course of the year.
• Households purchased around 38,646 tonnes of ‘retail’ mushroom per year.
• Households made an average of 65 fresh vegetable shopping trips per year.
• The fresh mushroom retail category value MAT was estimated at $412 million.