Helping ‘healthy’ consciences
There is a growing consumer trend towards having a ‘healthy’ conscience with more and more people wanting to be assured that the foods they buy meet their own ethical and moral standards. Whether a product is free range, locally produced, organic, or environmentally friendly has become a deciding factor in many people’s food choices. More recently there has been a growing preference towards Fairtrade products and those which can demonstrate a high standard of animal welfare.
Such products however usually carry a price premium and recent pressures on household budgets has meant that, whilst people still hold these core values dear, some have had to make sacrifices in the short term. For example, in November 2008 Mintel reported that almost half of organic food shoppers in the UK claimed they would reduce or even give up buying organic food in the following year.
The current climate however has not dampened ‘responsible’ activities such as recycling household packaging and, more recently, actively reducing food waste. In practical terms people are becoming increasingly interested in how food is packaged and taking less of an interest in multi-buy promotions, instead preferring simple price reductions on individual products as there is a growing realisation that wasting food equates to wasted money.
Read our section on Global Grocery Retail Trends to see how food retailers are responding to consumer trends.