sustainable diets report_finalpdf
TRANSCRIPT
© IGD 2013
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October 2013
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Contents
Slide 3 Introduction
Slide 4 Key findings
Slide 5 Background information
Slide 6 How shoppers’ approach health and sustainability
Slide 12 Shopper empowerment
Slide 15 Product choice drivers: Health vs. ethics and environment
Slide 21 Choice editing
Slide 24 Responsibility
Slide 27 Contact us
© IGD 2013
3 3 This report reveals the findings from our shopper research on the motivations and drivers for shoppers adopting a more sustainable diet. We have undertaken this research as part of our Industry Working Group (see slide 28) programme that is looking to address the concept of a sustainable diet. We can't solve all the issues immediately but it's important that any solutions we do come up with are practical and evidence based. Our ultimate aim is to help move consumers towards sustainable and healthy dietary choices. Read on to find out about: • The different shopper approaches and attitudes to both health
and environmental sustainability • How empowered shoppers feel to influence environmental,
ethical and health issues through their purchasing decisions • What drives product choice in terms of health and
environmental sustainability and how it differs by category • Shoppers’ attitudes towards choice editing, how this has
changed over time and how it differs for health and sustainability • The extent shoppers believe these issues are the responsibility
of industry
Introduction
Research methodology • Focus groups: Four
• Region: North London and Bristol
• Life-stage: Pre-family, young family, maturing family, post-family
• Social grade: 4xBC1
• Working status: Mix of full-time, part-time and not working
• Medium and high focus in ethics and health
• Responsible for food and grocery shopping and meal preparation
Research completed: June, 2013
Online survey
• 1,035 online interviews
• Fully or mainly responsible for food and grocery shopping in household
Research completed: August, 2013
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Key findings
Shopper approach: Mainstream shoppers adopt a reactive, minimalist approach to engaging with environmental and health issues. The default is to continue as they are and confront issues as a last resort
Shopper relevance: “Food quality” is the main portal to both environmental and health issues. Related to this are two sub-factors: “provenance” and “food production practices”. All three of these are of immediate interest, relevance and concern
Shopper empowerment: Shoppers feel more empowered to positively influence several environmental and social issues through their grocery shopping. However, they do not feel fully empowered yet and would like to exert more influence on
animal welfare, global warming and helping workers in poorer nations in particular
Shopper priorities: Health and nutrition are a priority for shoppers - usually ranking higher than ethical or environmental factors, suggesting that health messaging could be a strong communication lever in support of ethics
Shoppers and choice editing: Many shoppers are receptive to choice editing for ethical reasons (although it needs to be approached cautiously) but few support it for health reasons
Shopper expectations: Shoppers expect companies to be fully on top of their supply chains to ensure products are healthy and responsibly produced. Industry needs to ensure that it is doing the right thing while striking the right balance when it
comes to informing shoppers
Shopper understanding: The challenge for industry is to create a clear overarching coherent narrative that shoppers can grasp around environmental and health issues
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For many years, the issues of sustainability and nutrition have co-existed as mainly separate agendas. Businesses have made considerable progress on both fronts; reducing emissions, waste and water, delivering better nutritional labelling and offering healthier products. The two agendas converge when addressing the delivery of a sustainable diet. This concept is developing rapidly in academic and public debate. However, despite its profile, there is no clarity yet on how a healthy and sustainable diet should be defined or achieved. Evidence of the need for change is compelling. The Foresight report on “The future of food and farming: Challenges and choices for global sustainability” noted that many systems of food production are unsustainable. They cannot support a global population heading towards 9 billion by 2050 and increasing in prosperity; they require too many of the world’s diminishing resources. From a health perspective, current systems under deliver nutrients and energy to 1.9 billion people while another one billion are substantially over consuming, resulting in rising obesity and associated diseases.
Background information
Assuming that dietary change is required, this represents a long term challenge. While food businesses can make some progress without involving consumers, ultimately change requires consumer and shopper participation. Openness to increase or decrease consumption of specific foods may be needed in the future, and it will be important to understand the factors affecting shoppers’ willingness to do this. Industry will need to provide shoppers with as much information as they need to inform their choices. For these reasons, IGD has conducted quantitative and qualitative shopper research to understand shoppers’ motivations and drivers for both health and sustainability, so that industry is better placed to inform and help.
Consumer and shopper drivers of dietary change
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Shoppers prioritise health ahead of ethics and the environment
IGD ShopperVista July 2013, Base: all main grocery shoppers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Price
Promotions
Quality or performance
Taste or smell
Healthy option
Use by or sell by date
Familiarity
Brand
Ease of use
Ethical or eco-friendly
• Given shoppers’ current priority of saving money, it is no surprise that price and promotions play the most significant role in product choice decisions
• Quality ranks third and is often the gateway to thinking about sustainability issues
• Shoppers are primarily focused on the direct benefit to both themselves and their families when choosing products, and health ranks above ethical considerations in most people’s shopping decision hierarchy
• Nearly half of shoppers (49%) say healthy options are important when they are choosing which products to buy. This is significantly higher than those stating that ethical considerations are important (one in five)
• However, sustainability can play an important role when shoppers are choosing between products
Importance of differing factors in product choice
Q. Rank your five most important considerations when shopping. Please think about the individual food and grocery products that you buy.
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How shoppers approach health and sustainability
• Most shoppers compartmentalise environmental and health issues rather than taking a systematic approach
• For shoppers that do engage with the sustainability agenda when making dietary choices the approach and commitment can vary greatly
• Shoppers’ approach towards health and sustainability mainly depends on age and life stage
• Four shopper segments emerged from our qualitative research
• Most shoppers are ‘Mainstreamers’ and adopt a reactive, minimalist approach to engaging with sustainable diet issues
• ‘Nutrition Savvy’ shoppers are focused more on health and nutrition
• ‘Ethical Foodie’ focus more on the quality of food and tend to be older (family or post-family)
• Younger shoppers are more likely to be ‘Ultra-Ethicals’ and uncompromising
Implications • A ‘one size fits all’ approach is not always possible or
appropriate • Different messages resonate with different shopper
groups • Industry should be mindful that the younger ‘Ultra-
Ethical’ shoppers of today may become the new mainstreamers of the future, if their beliefs are deeply entrenched
Ultra Ethical
Mainstreamers
Nutrition Savvy
Ethical Foodie
• Serious about food issues, and are political • Consider a wide range of ethical, environmental and
nutritional issues - tend to put environmental/ethical issues ahead of nutritional ones
• Wary of commercially-driven food producers and supermarkets
• Driven by love of food: flavour, eating, cooking experience
• Strongly focused on food quality issues, seeking high quality ingredients
• Pragmatic, realistic rather than idealistic about food production
• Driven by their own and their children’s health needs • Self-considered experts in health and nutrition which
is reflected in their strong beliefs and decision drivers • Think in ‘quasi-scientific’ way about content of food –
calories, fats, carbohydrates etc.
• Pragmatic, driven by and concerned about food quality but readily make quality/price trade-offs
• Reactive – respond only to prominent issues and scares
• Largely accept the food choices presented to them • Most concerns are latent, only half developed
Base: IGD focus group, June 2013
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Life stages affect decisions on health and sustainability
“Thinking about a better yesterday” Issues of health/age are important Question modern farming methods, reflective; can be idealistic In store: sometimes take time, less pressured
“Just dealing with today” Pragmatic, focused on responsibility to feed family Reactive - only taking note of ethical issues if glaring, separate needs of food shopping from their wider ethical views In store: time-pressured, focused on getting the shopping done quickly
“Dreaming of a better tomorrow” Grown up with environmental issues Moving from convenience focus to greater knowledge and maturity. Holistic approach to their values, food shopping part of these. In store: sometimes take time, less pressured
Empty nesters, 55+
Family, 35-55
Pre-family, 25-34
“You think you’re being ethical, but you don’t really understand why”
Implications • Priorities change depending on life stage • Generally younger shoppers have more time to
engage with the sustainability agenda and have been brought up with it
• Empty nesters have more time to consider when purchasing products. Health is often a priority
• Those with families prioritise their children’s diets especially in the early years
• Shopping for children has both positive and negative effects on parents’ engagement with food sustainability issues
• Parents are torn between meeting children’s demands and focusing on food provenance, ethical and environmental factors
• Some shoppers with young children purchase organic, believing that nutrition at the start of life is especially important
• Pre-family shoppers make some links between issues, but with some difficulty, and rarely with an over-arching narrative
Base: IGD focus group, June 2013
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Quality is the gateway to engaging shoppers
Implications • Quality is a key driver to purchase for shoppers, therefore any
ethical and/or environmental communication should point to improved quality for the shopper
• Very few “standalone” issues influence shoppers independently of quality or price
• However, quality represents different things to different shoppers and often denotes different environmental, ethical and nutrition credentials
• Where environmental, ethical or nutrition issues clearly affect product quality their importance is heightened
• For issues to impact shoppers decisively it requires years of media coverage and well established and good value solutions, for example:
― Shoppers’ attitudes on free range eggs and on sustainably fished cod are often priority drivers of decision-making in these areas
― For higher welfare chicken and pole caught tuna there is fairly high awareness of the ethical issues. However, it is not as prominent at point of purchase and many admitted to still buying cheap chicken. While a few mentioned pole and line caught tuna, most were not driven by the issue
― Many other issues such as ‘Airmiles’ (air-freighted) in produce do not register with the vast majority of shoppers, and would certainly not be a barrier to purchase
Farming methods “May affect content and
flavour”
Animal welfare “May affect meat quality”
“Store cupboard” ingredients Products can have unknown
additives added to keep them fresh longer
Local / British farmers Trusted to have high food hygiene / safety standards
The spectrum of perceived quality
Base: IGD focus group, June 2013
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Influencers and levers out-of-store and in-store
Out-of-store • Much of the reflection about the wider issues around sustainability is
prompted out-of-store ― Often media coverage is associated with nutrition and food safety issues,
especially “scares” and can be contradictory, and confusing for the shopper ― Celebrity chefs often focus on food quality, provenance, sourcing and natural
rather than processed food ― Retailer advertising often emphasises local sourcing, prompting thoughts about
provenance and farming methods
• In-store triggers can prompt shoppers to reflect on sustainable choices ― Shoppers look for longest use-by date - but these can also arouse suspicion
about what has been done to the product to keep it fresh e.g. added preservatives and unknown processes
― With regards to distance travelled the real issue for shoppers is around freshness and if artificial preservation or processes have been used, not so much about the environmental impact
― Travel is not strongly questioned within the UK, but travel from overseas is put in a different, more sceptical category due to quality standards
― If prices are deemed too low (especially in meat) this can arouse suspicion around the quality and welfare standards of animals
― Packaging is also an area of scrutiny for shoppers - with most shoppers striving for less packaging
― Decision making in-store can be limited due to store environment and time pressure
“You can’t ask too many questions at the fish counter cos
there’s a queue behind you”
Newspaper stories (e.g. on health, nutrition issues)
TV documentaries (esp. on food safety, animal welfare)
Influence of values projected by celebrity chefs
Retailer advertising e.g. locally sourced produce, animal welfare
Long use-by dates on fresh produce Distant country of origin Too cheap Over-packaged (esp. fruit and veg) Unnatural colour
In-store
Base: IGD focus group, June 2013
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Shoppers are feeling more empowered
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13, 7% none of these
Your health British farmers The local
economy The way animals
are treated The environ-
ment Sustainable
fishing Workers in
poorer nations Global warming
Q. Which of these, if any, do you feel you can influence positively through your decisions when buying food and grocery products? (%)
N/A
Arrows denote significant differences
• Shoppers feel increasingly empowered to positively influence environmental and social issues through their food and grocery shopping decisions
• The proportion that feel able to positively influence their health, British farmers, the local economy and the way animals are treated has increased in particular since 2009. This could be due to heightened media and popular culture interest in these areas over recent years. However, perceived influence on social and environmental issues remain much lower
• Female shoppers significantly feel more empowered that they can positively influence through their purchasing decisions on health, British farmers and the way animals are treated than male shoppers
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Opportunities to help inspire shoppers further
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13, 16% none of these
The way animals are treated Global warming The local
economy The environ-
ment Workers in
poorer nations Sustainable
fishing British farmers My health
Q. Which others would you like to be able to influence positively through your decisions when buying food and groceries? (%)
Arrows denote significant differences
• Shoppers would like to be able to have a greater influence on all environmental and social issues through their shopping decisions
• There is a significant and rising desire by shoppers for more or better mechanisms to influence all of the ethical issues we tested • This does not apply to health where shoppers already feel highly empowered
Implications • The investment by industry in improved nutritional labelling and healthy choices appears to have worked in making shoppers feel
more empowered, this is likely to have been helped by increased media attention in this area • Industry has an opportunity to inspire shoppers to make more informed decisions to influence environmental and social issues
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Overview of priority health and ethical factors by category
Priority ranking
Fresh meat Processed meat
Dairy Fresh fish Tinned fish Fresh fruit and vegetables
1 No artificial colours
Animal welfare
No artificial colours
No artificial colours
No artificial colours 5 A DAY
2 Animal welfare
No artificial colours
Vitamins and minerals
Vitamins and minerals Omega 3 No artificial
colours
3 Vitamins and minerals Low fat Animal welfare Omega 3
Vitamins and minerals
Vitamins and minerals
4 Maintain healthy weight Lower in salt Maintain
healthy weight Future
availability
Maintain healthy weight
Maintain healthy weight
5 Distance travelled
Maintain healthy weight
Low fat Maintain healthy weight
Future availability
Impact on environment
• Health and nutrition factors are a high priority for shoppers when purchasing products across many categories – usually ranking higher than ethical or environmental factors
• A key factor is how ‘natural’ shoppers believe a product to be - reflected in the importance placed on ‘no artificial colours’. This is also demonstrated in IGD’s ShopperVista research where over half (52%) of shoppers state that recognising all ingredients is extremely or very important
• Animal welfare remains an important factor for meat and dairy products, whereas the impact on the environment was only ranked as a significant factor for fruit and vegetables
Key: Priority drivers within blue boxes relate to ethical and environmental factors, others relate to health and nutrition drivers
Q. How important or unimportant are each the following health, ethical and environmental factors when buying these food and grocery products?
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13
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Animal welfare is an important ethical choice driver when purchasing meat and dairy
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13
Fresh meat
Processed meat
Animal welfare
Distance it has travelled
Future availability
Pay and working conditions for
employees
Impact on the environment
Amount of packaging
Organic
Dairy
Q. Importance of ethical and environmental factors when buying these food and grocery products (Mean score out of 10)
Implications • Shoppers still want to be reassured about the welfare
standards of the meat products that they purchase • The distance that meat and dairy products have
travelled is important, but this is mainly to do with perceived quality
• Of the three categories considered here, ethical drivers are most significant for fresh meat but less so for processed meat
• Animal welfare ranks as the top environmental and ethical driver of product choice for all three categories
• Shoppers associate higher animal welfare and British produce with better quality meat. Shoppers tend to assume that processed meats have worse animal welfare conditions
• The distance product has travelled is particularly important for fresh meat, but ranks only 6th for processed meat
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Future supply and the impact on the environment are important sustainability factors when purchasing fish and fruit and vegetables
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13
Fresh fish
Tinned fish
Future availability
Animal welfare
Impact on the environment
Pay and working conditions for
employees
Distance it has travelled
Amount of packaging
Organic
Fresh fruit & veg
Q. Importance of ethical and environmental factors when buying these food and grocery products (Mean score out of 10)
N/A
Implications • Most shoppers are aware of over fishing although many
need more prompting or persuasion to change behaviour • Shoppers tend to think more about ethics when buying fresh
rather than tinned products, although this could reflect the options made available rather than any inherent difference in thinking
• Concern of over fishing and sustainable supply for the future ranks as the top environmental and ethical driver of product choice for fresh and tinned fish
• The impact on the environment, distance travelled and amount of packaging are the top three ethical drivers for fresh fruit and vegetables – all ranking higher than for fish
• The main concern for shoppers in relation to distance travelled is the product freshness, rather than the environmental impact
• Organic is the lowest ranking environmental and ethical factor for all categories although still important for some
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Free from artificial colours and preservatives are important health factors when purchasing meat and dairy
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13 and 1Manufactured foods Research IGD May 2012
Fresh meat
Processed meat
Free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives
Provides vitamins and minerals
Helps to maintain a healthy weight
Low fat/saturated fat variant
Lower in salt
Dairy
Q. Importance of health factors when buying these food and grocery products (Mean score out of 10)
• The scores for fresh meat and dairy show a strong similarity and differ significantly from those for processed meat. This reflects previous IGD research1 whereby shoppers claim to buy processed foods for taste and convenience rather than their nutritional content
• Buying products that are free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives ranks as the top health driver of product choice for fresh meat, processed meat and dairy products
• Buying low fat variants and products lower in salt ranks higher for processed meat than for fresh meat and dairy products although in absolute terms the score is still low
Implications • There could be scope for meat and dairy companies to
amplify messages about their products’ nutritional benefits and lack of added ingredients
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Free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives are significant choice drivers when purchasing fish and fruit and vegetables
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13
Fresh fish
Tinned fish Fresh fruit & veg
Q. Importance of health factors when buying these food and grocery products (Mean score out of 10)
N/A
Free from artificial colours, flavours and
preservatives
Provides vitamins and minerals
Contains Omega 3
Helps to maintain a healthy weight
Low fat/saturated fat variant
Lower in salt
Contributes to 5 A DAY
N/A
N/A N/A
• Fruit and vegetables are seen as intrinsically healthy so beyond vitamins and 5-a-day, shoppers do not give much thought to the nutritional content
• The main concern is what has been ‘done’ to the fruit and vegetables to make them last so long
• Buying products that are free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives ranks as the top health driver of product choice for fresh and tinned fish
• Fish is seen as naturally healthy with omega 3 which is ‘good for the brain’
• There was some scepticism round processed fish which was thought to be less healthy than fresh
Implications • How natural a product is perceived to be is a key
factor when purchasing produce with a longer shelf life
• Processed fish is not deemed to be as ‘healthy’ as fresh fish, therefore reassurance in this area could drive purchase
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Shoppers divided on the need for more ethical choice editing
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13 and 22010 Ethical & Sustainable Shopper (excluding Don’t know)
2010 2013
Q. Thinking about recent examples where food retailers have taken an ethical stance such as only stocking 100% non-caged eggs, changing to energy saving light bulbs only, selling Fairtrade bananas only, please indicate which of the following most closely reflects your view
• Choice editing is where companies withdraw products and
restrict choice • Over recent years there has not been any significant fluctuation
in shoppers’ attitudes to choice editing for ethical reasons • Overall, 46% of British shoppers are in favour of more choice
editing, which is a slight decrease from 20102
• Three in ten (31%) shoppers are happy with the choice editing they perceive has occurred so far, but are reluctant to have choices reduced any further. Men and those living in London are most likely to favour this position
• A similar proportion (30%) believe there are a few more areas where ethical only options should be available. This is higher among women
• One in seven (15%) shoppers believes that not nearly enough choice editing has been done, rising to more than one in five for retired people and those living in single households
Implications • Any choice editing activity on ethical and/or environmental
issues should be carefully planned and sensitively tested with shoppers prior to a company-wide roll-out
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Shoppers are mainly opposed to choice editing for health reasons
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13 and 3 Winning shoppers trust, IGD 2012
2013
Q. If food retailers were to take a health stance and withdraw unhealthy products, leaving only healthier options for certain products such as low fat cheese, wholemeal bread, baked crisps rather than fried, please indicate which of the following most closely reflects your view
• Overall three in four (73%) of British shoppers are against choice editing of products for health reasons
• Many respondents in our qualitative research also believed it is the responsibility of individuals to eat healthily
• Those aged 35-44, ABC1 and with children are most likely to
welcome a bit more choice editing on health
“It’s the responsibility of the people who are putting food in their mouths. We should not have to suffer from reduced choice
due to someone else liking the sweet fatty things”
Implications • Shoppers generally oppose health related choice editing, as they
believe they are able to make informed decisions and do not require industry to intervene (reference slide 13)
• However, this does not represent a request for inertia. IGD’s quantitative research3 in 2012 showed that shoppers believe industry does have a role to play in tackling obesity. 48% of shoppers believe it has a very or fairly big role, and only 7% believe it has no role
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Responsibility falls to industry
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13
Expect food and grocery companies to be constantly checking that suppliers are providing healthy products and acting responsibly towards the environment
• Nearly nine in ten (87%) shoppers expect grocery companies to be constantly checking that their suppliers are providing healthy products and are acting responsibly towards the environment, up 4% since 2011. This applies particularly to 65+ year old (93%) and female (89%) shoppers
• Fewer shoppers are happy for the food industry to get on with health and sustainability issues without informing them about what they are doing, compared with two years ago (down 7% to 61%)
• Female shoppers (58%) were less inclined to think that industry should just get on with doing the ‘right thing’ without informing them, while male shoppers (66%) were more inclined
Q. To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements regarding how healthy food and groceries are and also their environmental impact?
Believe food and grocery companies should just get on with doing the right thing for their health and the environment, rather than telling them about it
Implications • Shoppers overwhelmingly expect companies to be checking
their supply chain and so the reputational damage of failing to do this could be severe
• Six out of ten shoppers expect industry to just be getting on with doing the right thing. However, a significant proportion (especially women) would like industry to inform them about health and environmental issues (see slide 26). Industry needs to find ways of making their information available without forcing it on those less interested
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Shoppers are looking to be inspired and informed
Base: all main shoppers, Aug'13
Would like to be inspired by food and grocery products that are healthy and have a really positive environmental impact
• Shoppers favour positive encouragement to help them make
more environmentally friendly and healthy choices • They mainly want to be inspired about products that are
healthy and have a positive environmental impact. Three in four agree with this, compared with two years ago (up 7% since 2011)
• A higher proportion of female shoppers (80%) would like to be inspired compared to male shoppers (69%)
• 78% of shoppers tend to agree (40%) or strongly agree (38%) that industry should provide all the necessary information about health and environmental impacts of products
• Female shoppers (82%) are more inclined to agree that industry should provide all the necessary information to make informed choices than male shoppers (74%)
• There is no significant difference in opinion by age, region or social class from shoppers with regards to wanting more information
Q. To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements regarding how healthy food and groceries are and also their environmental impact?
Believe food companies should provide all necessary information about health and environmental impact of food and grocery products to allow them to make informed choices
Implications • Reconciling the results of the last two slides, shoppers are
keen on transparency and inspiration but less so on ‘self-congratulations’ by companies. Skillful marketing is required to walk this tightrope
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Further information and contact details
Report author: Hannah Arnold
Nutrition and Scientific Affairs Manager
[email protected] www.twitter.com/HannahArnold_IGD
Report author: Toby Pickard
Senior Sustainability Analyst [email protected]
www.twitter.com/TobyPickard_IGD
Need more shopper insight? Email [email protected] or call +44 (0) 1923 851954
IGD has brought industry together to form a ‘sustainable diets’ working group. The group is working to provide guidance and help for food businesses on interpreting and implementing a more sustainable diet to help consumers. To see the members of the working group click HERE
Since 2008, IGD has brought the food industry together to consider how it can address nutrition and sustainability objectives and improve knowledge and understanding of sustainable diets. To learn about the concept of sustainable diets and the challenges and potential solutions for industry click HERE