With the rise of organic and healthier based diets, the food industry has noticed the increasing number of health-conscious consumers. Health conscious consumers care about what’s in their meals and in the products they buy at supermarkets, from the ingredients to the amount of calorie intake. Consumers want food transparency and all the details, whether good or bad, they want to be able to make the decision for themselves.
According to a study from Response Media, a full-service digital and direct agency who combines customer acquisition with personalized email marketing, results found that a large amount of consumers find transparency of their products to be important. In fact, 99% for fresh food and 98% for packaged food — and 70% said their purchases are always or often influenced by transparency content.
Transparency has become a big topic word in the food industry, with the word becoming more of a requirement than an option. With the amount of information available to people nowadays, wanting to know what’s inside what they eat is a growing demand. Consumers want to the truth and it’s important for retailers to note because transparency is playing a big part in where consumers choose to shop.
Label Insight, a data science company that captures packaging information on products, found that manufacturers who adopt “complete transparency” would be rewarded with loyalty of about 94% of consumers.
Consumers are mistrusting of products with a lack of information
Their report goes on to say that consumers are mistrusting of products with a lack of information and even when information is provided, they don’t completely understand what it means due to inconsistency, information overload and misinformation. In fact, according to Label Insight, more than a third of respondents (35 percent) admit they are sometimes confused by what the labels on food packages are saying and nearly two in five (38 percent) say they are concerned about eating products that contain information on the label they do not recognize.
The study also mentions that consumers value factors such as sustainability or attributes such as low-sugar or organic. In fact, the study finds that consumers value healthy ingredients four times as much as brand recognition, 24 percent vs. 6 percent.
According to a blog post by the National Grocers Association, David Carter, CEO of FoodChain ID, a technical administrator for the Non-GMO Project’s product verification program, said, “Consumers are not demanding that all food be non-GMO, and we don’t take the position that this is always necessary. But what consumers are clearly demanding, more than ever, is that food be thoroughly inspected and receive the proper certifications and that this be done by qualified professionals who ensure accurate labeling to help consumers make fully informed purchase decisions.”