Title: Consumers with food allergies: towards a business research agenda
Author(s) : Deborah Colton , Mhlambululi Mafu
The number of people living with food allergies has grown exponentially over the past 15 years. Approximately more than 32 million individuals have a recognized food allergy, and this figure includes nearly 8% of children in the United States and between 220-250 million worldwide. This implies that the number of people affected by food allergies is rapidly increasing by a similar margin. More significantly, this growing population strongly confirms the presence of a unique market size that is ready to pay a premium, thus creating lucrative opportunities for market and business players worldwide. While food-related research in the marketing domain exists, it does not focus on food allergic suffers, and some research stream exists in the related domain of tourism and is noteworthy, it does not explore the retail realm and is only a paucity of research relating to food allergies and the retail environment. Besides these anecdotes, we expose a critical need for food manufacturers and businesses to develop strategies that meet specific requirements and improve the shopping experiences of the potentially growing alienated consumers. Additionally, we present a genuine and vital research stream by uncovering the overlooked yet significant market size and untapped business opportunities in this segmented allergic food market. Furthermore, we demonstrate how people shop for food allergies and the challenges businesses have unknowingly put in place that potentially alienate a substantial population of food allergen consumers. Finally, this work establishes an overarching research agenda that critically challenges academics and marketing practitioners to develop relevant business strategies and stakeholders to identify new practices and products that enhance food allergy sufferers’ safety and well-being and close personal networks.