A shift in consumer priorities has seen ethics overtake taste and quality for the first time, IGD chief economist James Walton told the floor at British Potato 2007. He urged the UK potato industry to see both the challenges and opportunities that the rise of ethical and premium shoppers could mean for the sector.
UK shoppers claim they are confident in their ability to drive change at the till through ethical purchases, with more than 55 per cent of believing they can make a difference to British farmers, and nearly half claiming they would change their habits if it made more of a difference.
“Ethics have become much more mainstream than they ever have been before,” Walton said. “Consumers are more aware than ever of the knock-on effects there consumption decisions make.
“Ethical is a very elastic word - it depends on your own point of view, but the majority of UK consumers claim to have some interest in ethical issues,” he added.
IGD has identified four types of consumers ranging from pro-active “guerrilla” shoppers to laid-back “laissez faire” shoppers. Walton acknowledged that consumers can move from one classification depending on their circumstances at the time of the shopping trip, but said “there was a need to hold people in the guerrilla and activist categories” to capitalise on the trend.
Public perceptions of food and grocery products can be easily swayed, Walton said, with 90 per cent of UK consumers having no connection to the food industry and relying on the media as their primary source of information.
An IGD survey this year found that 35 per cent said they had stopped buying product after learning more about how it is produced in a TV documentary, more than a quarter were put off by hearing or reading something about a company that made them question its values, and 15 per cent were turned off by hearing or reading something about a country that made them question supporting products from that source.
But UK consumers do trust in the UK food industry more than any other industry, Walton said.
Nearly 60 per cent of UK consumers surveyed by IGD said food retailers were good at responding to environmental, social and ethical issues - higher than farmers and food and drink manufacturers, both around the 40 per cent mark, and way ahead of non-food industries.
Sir Colin Berry, from the University of London, urged the industry not to overlook the emotional pulls experienced by the consumer. “If you want to make people love potatoes, do not sell them on the basis on science,” he said. “You have to accentuate other positives.”
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