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- The growth of ethical shopping
- Defining ethical shopping
- Types of ethical shopper
- How the food industry can respond to ethical shopping trends
Looking at the definitions and attitudes to ethical shopping and how industry
can respond
The growth of ethical shopping
Ethical food products have grown exponentially due to the rising consumer
interest in ethically sourced goods. This has occurred in a period of tough
economic and market conditions, suggesting that ethical consumerism looks set to
maintain its position within food and grocery retailing. This may also signal a
fundamental change in the way a certain proportion of shoppers shop for food and
grocery products.
- The Ethical Food Market, as defined by the Co-operative Bank’s ‘Ethical
Consumerism 2007’ report, has grown by 15% year on year since 2002
- This is compared to a growth rate of 5% year on
year for overall household expenditure
In previous research, 85% of shoppers felt that the food industry had a
responsibility to social, ethical and environmental issues. It is, therefore, encouraging
to report that the three industries most likely to be considered best at
responding to ethical issues were food retailers (25%), followed by farmers
(19%) and food manufacturers (7%), as detailed in IGD's 'Ethical Shopping - Are UK Shoppers Turning Green?' report.
Defining ethical shopping
Shoppers have a broader definition of ethical consumerism than the
traditional industry definition. Based on research published in IGD's
Ethical Consumerism report, shoppers see ethics as defined by three broad
areas:
What is Ethical? Shopper Definition
Source: IGD Consumer Unit, 'Ethical Consumerism'
- Consideration is about making a choice at the point of sale, based on the
information that the shopper has at their disposal.
- Shoppers include both Fairtrade, defined by the Fairtrade Foundation, and
fairly-traded products in general, incorporating local and small businesses.
- Ethical shopping is also aspirational - it is perceived as expensive, and
so if you can afford to do it, this to reinforces beliefs about personal
success.
Types of ethical shopper
Ethical shopping plays a differing role in shoppers’ experience, based on
their attitude towards ethics and their behaviour in general. Research that we
published in IGD's Ethical Consumerism report
classified shoppers into the following ethical typologies:
- Activists – 33% of shoppers claim to buy products that support their
beliefs
- Showboaters – 4% of shoppers claim to buy ethical products because they
think they should
- Lapsed Activists – 9% of shoppers claim that they think they should buy
products that support their beliefs, but don’t
- Laissez Faire – 34% of shoppers claim to buy products that satisfy their
needs, not those that support their beliefs
- Guerilla – 15% of shoppers claim not to buy products because they don’t
support their beliefs
Our focus group research suggests that shoppers may over-state their
propensity to purchase ethically. Many shoppers would like to do so, and
therefore an opportunity does exist for this market, but the challenge is to
translate attitude into action and further change purchasing behaviour.
How the food industry can respond to ethical shopping trends
The Ethical Category accounts for 5.1% of total food and drink sales (source:
The Ethical Consumerism Report 2007), but it
is growing at twice the rate of the conventional market. The competitive retail
environment means retailers are looking to certain ethical ranges to gain
competitive advantage, and therefore may result in price competition.
Shoppers define ethical purchasing as ‘thinking about where your food has
come from’. There may be an opportunity for local and British food to capture
shoppers’ imagination through ethical purchasing messages.
Shoppers think as an ‘activist’ but behave like a ‘lapsed’, so the challenge
is to translate attitude into action. This needs to occur outside of the retail
environment as shopping is habitual, and choices are often made prior to store.
Purchase motivations fall into 3 main categories: quality, health and
sustainability. It is important to understand different purchasing motivations
and target marketing activity for each.
Price is cited as the main barrier but wider issues about education appear
also to have significant impact. Educating consumers about the issue may help
them to understand the price premium and be willing to pay extra.
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