Diet, Exercise, And Nutrition Fads And Facts

New York, NY--Health purchasing market research leader and provider of the respected PharmTrends174 service, Ipsos-Insight has announced the launch of Ipsos DietTrends, a complementary syndicated service to track consumer purchase behavior of diet-related products and services. Ipsos DietTrends is built on Ipsos-Insight's experience in the human health sector, which has provided single-source tracking of Rx fulfillment and OTC purchase behavior from a static and longitudinal consumer panel since 1997. Ipsos DietTrends tracks purchase behavior of nutritional supplements, meal replacements, weight control products, and diet and exercise plans. "The weight-loss and fitness industry is hyper-competitive and trend-sensitive," explained Mike Weisberger, Vice President of the Ipsos-Insight. "With Ipsos DietTrends, manufacturers, service providers, and marketers can optimize their strategies, target incremental opportunities based on consumer purchase behavior, and forecast consumer demand." Ipsos DietTrends captures purchase data through the America Shoppers' Panel: a longitudinal consumer panel of 16,000 households, representative of the U.S. population. Each month, panelists record all diet-related product and services purchases made by all household members during that month regardless of where the purchase was made, revealing the importance of all outlets including health food stores, mail order and online. Monthly reporting quantifies brand loyalty and compliance. Ipsos DietTrends began collecting data in January 2004 and is offered on a syndicated basis, which is available for immediate access. Not-So-Resolute New Year's Diet Plans Recent sample findings from Ipsos DietTrends show the rapid-drop off in diet involvement post-New Year's resolution: purchasing of weight control products was 36% lower in May 2004 than in January, while diet/exercise plan participation dropped 25%. Summer dieting led to increased activity in June, but purchasing remained far below January levels. Women represent 56% of the consistent purchasers, and account for 64% of `lost' diet consumers. Women aged 40 and older were most likely to have abandoned their weight-loss activities, making up 37% of those who left the diet products/services category by May; the attrition rate for women 60 and older was even higher. "Companies in the weight control industry must focus on keeping older women committed beyond the January flurry of activity," said Weisberger. "Ipsos DietTrends can help them understand consumer behavior patterns so they can tailor their marketing programs to meet changing needs." Data collected for Ipsos DietTrends can be integrated with findings from Ipsos PharmTrendsв to provide a complete picture of Americans' health. For example, households with compliant January-May dieters filled an average of ten prescriptions per household during the five-month period, compared with 9.2 prescriptions for the "lost" buyers. Both groups filled more prescriptions than the average US household (8.6). For more information on Ipsos DietTrends, visit the webpage at: http://www.ipsos-insight.com/analytics/behavior/DietTrends.cfm. For more information on this release, please contact: Mike Weisberger Vice President, Ipsos Health 516.507.3090 About Ipsos-Insight Ipsos-Insight, the flagship marketing research division of Ipsos in the U.S., has industry specialists serving companies in the following categories: consumer products; technology and communications; health and pharmaceutical; financial services; cable, media and entertainment; agrifood; energy and utilities; and lottery and gaming. Ipsos-Insight provides custom and tracking research services to domestic clients, as well as U.S.-based multinationals. It offers concept and product testing, package testing, attitude and usage studies, omnibuses, tracking systems, brand equity, price optimization and segmentation, marketing models, advanced analytics, and global research. Ipsos-Insight is an Ipsos company, a leading global survey-based market research group. To learn more, visit: www.ipsos-insight.com. About Ipsos Ipsos is a leading global survey-based market research group, with revenues of $644 million in 2003. It offers a full suite of research services, guided by industry experts and bolstered by advanced analytics and methodologies in advertising, marketing, public opinion and customer loyalty research, as well as forecasting and modeling. Member companies also offer a full line of custom, syndicated, omnibus, panel, and online research products and services. To learn more, visit: www.ipsos.com. Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris Premier Marchй, and is part of the SBF 120 and Next Prime Indices as well as eligible to the Deferred Settlement System (SRD). Euroclear code 7329, Reuters ISOS.LN, Bloomberg IPS FP