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- Ethical Food & Drink sales
- Growth continues through the recession
- Ethical shopper types
- Barriers to ethical shopping
- Implications
Ethical Food & Drink sales
Spending on ethical food and drink grew almost threefold in the last decade, according to the co-operative bank’s 'Ten Years of Ethical Consumerism report', from £1.9billion in 1999 to over £6 billion in 2008. The chart below highlights many of the key components underpinning this.
- Fairtrade, organic, free range and dolphin friendly products had already been established by 1999 but with limited availability
- Since then new certification schemes have been established including the Marine Stewardship Council’s ecolabel for fish and the RSPCA’s Freedom Food for animal welfare
- Although the Rainforest Alliance was founded in 1986, it was not until much later that products bearing the certification logo hit supermarket shelves
Ethical food & drink sales in the UK, 1999-2008
Source: The co-operative bank 'Ten Years of Ethical Consumerism: 1999-2008'
Growth continues through the recession
Recent IGD research reveals that shoppers are not compromising on their values during the recession. The penetration of shoppers specifically buying higher animal welfare, Fairtrade and locally produced products continued to grow over the last 12 months.
Ethical products specifically bought in the past month
Base: main/joint household shoppers. Source: IGD Shopper Trends 2010 report
Only organic has suffered a small decline and this is mainly among more casual organic shoppers. There are a number of possible reasons why the trend for organic is a little different:
- Shoppers who had bought organic as a proxy for a single ethical benefit (e.g. higher animal welfare) are finding that there are other, less expensive options available that meet their ethical concerns (e.g. Freedom Food certified meat products)
- Motivations for buying organic are very varied and are not always ethically based (e.g. perceived taste, quality or health benefit)
Organic has retained a loyal core of shoppers who will continue to buy organic food during and after the recession.
The aspiration for high quality, more sustainable food remains, but people are scrutinising closely to get the best value for their values.
Ethical shopper types
IGD has identified five ethical shopper segments.
- Many UK shoppers are already engaged with shopping for a number of ethical issues (including the Ethical Evangelists and Focussed Followers)
- Conscience Casuals, representing those with no interest in ethical shopping, are now the niche.
Ethical Shopper Types
Source: IGD Ethical Shopping - Are UK Shoppers Turning Green? report, 2008
The current economic environment will impact these groups in different ways:
- The most committed shoppers will not want to compromise their beliefs, which are now well ingrained
- Those aspiring to ethical shopping where price is a barrier, may defer their entry into the ethical market for longer than they may have otherwise
- Those with limited ethical interest will want to ensure that they get value for money for their values, and may not be prepared to pay for the ethical criteria they regard as non-essential
Barriers to ethical shopping
While ethical shopping is becoming more mainstream there remain barriers to buying ethically. Research for IGD's Ethical Shopping - Are UK Shoppers Turning Green? report in 2008 showed that:
- Price is the most commonly citied barrier (52% of shoppers)
- Despite many more ethical products on supermarket shelves, lack of availability is increasingly mentioned as a barrier. This reflects the growing expectation for ethical options across more stores, categories and brands (31% of shoppers)
- Lack of trust is another key barrier. As shoppers become more engaged, their level of scrutiny and demand of assurances also increases (14% of shoppers)
- Lack of knowledge is another barrier (17% of shoppers)
Barriers to shopping ethically
Arrows denote change since 2006
Source: IGD Ethical Shopping - Are UK Shoppers Turning Green? report, 2008
Implications
The pace may slow but the tide is heading in the same direction. Ethical shopping is firmly established in the UK and shoppers don’t want to compromise on their values. Many food and grocery companies are, likewise, making long term ethical commitments.
Committed ethical shoppers will look for the best value for their values. Far fewer aspiring ethical shoppers may start to shop ethically during the economic downturn.
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