NMI Recognizes Health, Sustainability Focus Among Consumers

According to research by the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), today’s consumers are considered '”LOHAS” (Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability) consumers. This segment of the population has been identified as having values and behavior that is conscientious of the environment, society and corporate social responsibility that impacts their product purchasing behavior. NMI has developed a new model for 2006 to better represent this group of consumers.

According to NMI managing partner Steve French: "Updating segmentations is a routine practice in market research and ensures that the segmentation variables are representative of current market situations. The new segmentation began with evaluating over 170 different variables, later refined to about 25. Each consumer segment is mutually exclusive and unique in their specific motivational and behavioral patterns and levels of influence."

According to NMI, the five new LOHAS consumer segments are:

LOHAS (17% of all U.S. adults): LOHAS consumers are dedicated to personal and planetary health. Not only do they make environmentally friendly purchases, they also take action--they buy green products, support advocacy programs and are active stewards of the environment.
Naturalites (21% of all U.S. adults): Focused on natural/organic consumer packaged goods with a strong health focus when it comes to foods/beverages. They are not politically committed to the environmental movement nor are they driven to eco-friendly durable goods.
Drifters (19% of all U.S. adults): This segment has good intentions, but when it comes to behavior, other factors influence their decision more than the environment. Somewhat price sensitive (and trendy), they are full of reasons why they do not make environmentally friendly choices.
Conventionals (20% of all U.S. adults): This very practical segment does not have green attitudes but does have some "municipal" environmental behaviors such as recycling, energy conservation, and other more mainstream behaviors.
Unconcerned (21% of all U.S. adults): The environment and society are not priorities to this segment. They are not concerned and show no environmentally-responsible behavior.

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