October 10, 2007
Consumers Want Info to Buy Right
Grocery shopping has become an increasingly complex task for many consumers. They often start out their shopping trip short on time and faced with all kinds of questions about the products (taste, nutritional information, ethical concerns such as animal testing, environmental impact, etc.).
A new study of consumers in the U.K. conducted by IGD for EDS, Shopping Choices: Attraction or Distraction?, showed that consumers in that nation were almost unanimous in their desire to have nutritional, ethical and environmental information about the products sold in supermarkets.
The study found that 95 percent of people want nutritional information. Nearly half (49 percent) said they had, at some point, made purchasing decisions influenced by special dietary needs.
Consumers in the U.K. were also looking for information beyond dietary measures. Ninety-three percent said they wanted ethical information and 92 percent sought environmental information
Study participants said they were largely confident in their ability to make the right decisions based on having information available. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) said they were confident about information they read or heard about food.
“Today’s shoppers are demanding more information than ever before – be it nutritional, ethical or environmental,” wrote Siôn
Roberts, director consumer industries & retail at EDS EMEA, in the forward of the report. “Their natural reaction is to look for this on-pack, but at the same time, they also want less packaging. To add to the complexity, the level and nature of information consumers expect to see differs significantly, depending largely on their own priorities and lifestyle.”
According to Mr. Roberts, consumers are becoming more open to finding answers through the use of technologies inside and outside the store. Thirty percent, for example, said they’d like to have information available in so-called smart carts.
“Our research indicated that shopping trolleys (carts) might even help in the fight against obesity,” he wrote. “Shoppers want bar code readers on their trolleys to calculate the nutritional content and tell them when they have blown their calorific budget. They also want to see more information terminals and on-shelf buttons in-store… Now is the time for both retailers and manufacturers to look at how technology can help them to effectively manage this vast array of increasingly complex data. This will be key to remaining competitive in an already pressured market.”
Discussion Questions: Just how much and what type of grocery product information do you think consumers in the U.S. want? What do you think are the most effective means available to deliver this information?
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A good use for a retailer website.
US shoppers want the same information UK shoppers want. Maybe not in the same proportions, but the themes are all there. Many grocers have self-scanning stations for customer price checks. The same scanners, connected to the internet, could be used to show customers detailed facts that can’t easily fit on a label. And customers should be able to get that info at home, entering the bar codes manually. Or shelf price labels could be color coded to indicate competitive rankings for sustainability, nutrition, etc. Register tapes could summarize the information, based on the total of the purchases. Grocers with loyalty programs could show the grand totals by month online, on password-protected pages for each shopper.
I’m wondering if this is not another case of UK/Europe shoppers saying they want something, but either won’t pay for it or won’t use it. There’s a lot of demand characteristics in a survey like this.
Given the lack of time most shoppers in the U.S. spend in a category, I don’t think many would avail themselves of more information. The obvious exception–people who have special dietary issues. I’d bet everyone knows there is nothing nutritious about Oreos–doesn’t keep us from buying tons of them.
Consumers are hungry for meal solutions. Speed and convenience of shopping are key. Retailers can provide solutions through in-store meal displays and recipes featuring products on sale, point of purchase kiosks, signs and information. Cooking classes and merchandising focused on meal planning are also important. Providing weekly consumer columns in circulars, radio spots or even podcasts with simple and practical suggestions for consumers can address health, safety, environmental or ethical aspects of products, and focus on private label, too.
Technology can provide some of this information, but the source of the data must be reliable and updated frequently as well as simple to use in the store.
Nothing that I have read here–today or any other day–or in any other media points to more than a minority of Americans wanting such extensive information as people in Europe. British shoppers, like many others, may say one thing and do another but their demands for information are coming across louder and clearer than ever before. Even the vast majority who shop exclusively in supermarkets and primarily on cost, are increasingly aware of why food is cheap. More and more consumers are also aware of the complexities of shopping–that wanting information means that what goes on labels is printed smaller with more confusing abbreviations and that the more they know, the more they want to know. The paradox mentioned in the study about disliking packaging but seeing it as a vehicle for information is also important. As is the small proportion of people interested in getting information in other–more technological–formats. Basically, I think it boils down to the different requirements of having a life and having a lifestyle. Yes, people here are time pressured but maybe (just maybe) there are proportionately fewer who view being busy their highest priority.
Here’s a bulletin: we live in the information age.
Shoppers have a thirst for information of all kinds on the products they buy. However, they are pressed for time and don’t want be bombarded with detail. Mostly, they want information that helps them shop and make basic purchase decisions.
Retailers need to recognize the key information in each category. In OTC, it may be active ingredients. In cosmetics, it may be allergic warnings. In food, it is often the freshness or ingredients.
It is important to recognize new trends in information needs. In food, the emerging trend is “provenance” or origin. Coffee from Columbia or Ecuador? Oranges from California or Brazil?
Wine from Napa. Chilean Sea Bass. Certainly, nothing from China, except maybe egg rolls.
I think US consumers are very concerned about nutrition these days. But nutritional information is already on labels. Ethical information? Define “ethical.” I don’t see it happening and I don’t see the demand truly being existing in strong numbers in the U.S. “Environmental?” Again, define what you mean by “environmental.” I agree that I would like to know where the product was made and I believe there is a stronger desire by American’s to know what products are made in the U.S.A. I am not sure how or what information could be included on packaging that would address general “ethical” or “environmental” issues. And how could it be applied across categories. It seems like a daunting task unsupported by demand in the U.S.
As the old adage goes, there’s a big difference in what people say they do and what they do–or want.
Frankly, the consumer is on overload these days and the recent revelations about tainted Chinese goods are adding to the problem.
I think there is more than enough consumer information in the marketplace as it is. At some point, consumers who are looking for more have to take the initiative and ask, or look it up for themselves. You can’t please everyone all the time and the limited amount people are willing to spend for additional information or even higher quality products can’t support everything that everyone says they want.
We talk a lot these days about issues like ethics and the environment. But I am highly skeptical about how much they will really, really impact consumer purchasing patterns.
I like the shopping cart idea. Maybe we should put a scanner and speaker on the carts and every time someone with a little extra weight picks up a pint of Ben & Jerry’s it screams: “Put down the ice cream and step away from the case!”
Reality is logged everyday as we witness shoppers seeking product information through interactive digital customer service solutions in the aisle. Our data suggests approximately 25% of a store’s customer base will access product information solutions in the aisle, searching for everything from where to find an item quickly to how to prepare it.
A handful of retailers in the US have discovered the untapped opportunity in building loyalty by helping shoppers solve some of their daily problems related to meal planning. Some retailers use trained and qualified staff to provide the answers. Others will use cost effective interactive technology to provide store associates and the shopper with consistent, expert support when and where it is needed.
We owe it to the customer to convey all the important info about any product. Ingredients are fine but the nutritional label is equally if not more important to the consumer. Taking it a step further and putting info on the front of the package will help the customer make purchasing decisions faster increasing velocity on grocery products. All around consumers want to be informed and what they are consuming and I believe it extends beyond food related products. This China situation is making customers do a double take and they do have a right to know what is in the products they are buying. My observations indicate that brand image is slowly moving towards product content as opposed to positioning.
The shoppers who want multiple levels of detailed information about the products they are considering for purchase want it, and want it passionately. These people are few in the great scheme of things. Many others of us who don’t make ourselves crazy but do try to make informed choices, understand that much of the “information” presented to us can be manipulated or skewed. “Organic” certification can mean different things. How a carbon footprint is actually measured is highly questionable. What is considered a serving size is often ridiculous. Stores might better concentrate their energies and investment on keeping popular items on shelves, providing alternatives to Chinese made foodstuffs, and getting people through the check-out line efficiently.
What we shoppers in the USA want to know is only what we want to hear. Just put on the label that the product is healthy, it’s environmentally friendly, fair trade, not from China, and a low price. That should be easy enough to print a label like that. We want to be told that those potato chips are healthy. No company is going to put on their label that the product is anything otherwise. I suppose people in the UK are just as eager to be told this as we are. For some reason I picture UK shoppers bumbling around like Mr. Bean and being as inquisitive as Sherlock Holmes on each item they buy. I dread to hear what stereotype of shopper UK citizens dream up when they think of us shopping. One thing for sure is we don’t want too much information.
I agree that consumers want more information, but with a caveat. Because personally, I want more information about the products I buy, but what I really want is it delivered via search. I want to somewhere somehow input my criteria for, say, cereal–I want less than 20g of sugar, more than 5g of protein, etc., and I want to have the cereals that meet those requirements returned to me, again somehow some way. Cell phone? Shopping buddy? I don’t care.
It’s not really about MORE information (though carbon footprint is definitely a new category)–it’s about efficiently wading through all that information to find the products that I’m looking for. The last thing I want is to have to stand at the shelf trying to figure out which coffee is more carbon efficient, while meanwhile my kids are terrorizing the store.
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A good use for a retailer website.
US shoppers want the same information UK shoppers want. Maybe not in the same proportions, but the themes are all there. Many grocers have self-scanning stations for customer price checks. The same scanners, connected to the internet, could be used to show customers detailed facts that can’t easily fit on a label. And customers should be able to get that info at home, entering the bar codes manually. Or shelf price labels could be color coded to indicate competitive rankings for sustainability, nutrition, etc. Register tapes could summarize the information, based on the total of the purchases. Grocers with loyalty programs could show the grand totals by month online, on password-protected pages for each shopper.
I’m wondering if this is not another case of UK/Europe shoppers saying they want something, but either won’t pay for it or won’t use it. There’s a lot of demand characteristics in a survey like this.
Given the lack of time most shoppers in the U.S. spend in a category, I don’t think many would avail themselves of more information. The obvious exception–people who have special dietary issues. I’d bet everyone knows there is nothing nutritious about Oreos–doesn’t keep us from buying tons of them.
Consumers are hungry for meal solutions. Speed and convenience of shopping are key. Retailers can provide solutions through in-store meal displays and recipes featuring products on sale, point of purchase kiosks, signs and information. Cooking classes and merchandising focused on meal planning are also important. Providing weekly consumer columns in circulars, radio spots or even podcasts with simple and practical suggestions for consumers can address health, safety, environmental or ethical aspects of products, and focus on private label, too.
Technology can provide some of this information, but the source of the data must be reliable and updated frequently as well as simple to use in the store.
Nothing that I have read here–today or any other day–or in any other media points to more than a minority of Americans wanting such extensive information as people in Europe. British shoppers, like many others, may say one thing and do another but their demands for information are coming across louder and clearer than ever before. Even the vast majority who shop exclusively in supermarkets and primarily on cost, are increasingly aware of why food is cheap. More and more consumers are also aware of the complexities of shopping–that wanting information means that what goes on labels is printed smaller with more confusing abbreviations and that the more they know, the more they want to know. The paradox mentioned in the study about disliking packaging but seeing it as a vehicle for information is also important. As is the small proportion of people interested in getting information in other–more technological–formats. Basically, I think it boils down to the different requirements of having a life and having a lifestyle. Yes, people here are time pressured but maybe (just maybe) there are proportionately fewer who view being busy their highest priority.
Here’s a bulletin: we live in the information age.
Shoppers have a thirst for information of all kinds on the products they buy. However, they are pressed for time and don’t want be bombarded with detail. Mostly, they want information that helps them shop and make basic purchase decisions.
Retailers need to recognize the key information in each category. In OTC, it may be active ingredients. In cosmetics, it may be allergic warnings. In food, it is often the freshness or ingredients.
It is important to recognize new trends in information needs. In food, the emerging trend is “provenance” or origin. Coffee from Columbia or Ecuador? Oranges from California or Brazil?
Wine from Napa. Chilean Sea Bass. Certainly, nothing from China, except maybe egg rolls.
I think US consumers are very concerned about nutrition these days. But nutritional information is already on labels. Ethical information? Define “ethical.” I don’t see it happening and I don’t see the demand truly being existing in strong numbers in the U.S. “Environmental?” Again, define what you mean by “environmental.” I agree that I would like to know where the product was made and I believe there is a stronger desire by American’s to know what products are made in the U.S.A. I am not sure how or what information could be included on packaging that would address general “ethical” or “environmental” issues. And how could it be applied across categories. It seems like a daunting task unsupported by demand in the U.S.
As the old adage goes, there’s a big difference in what people say they do and what they do–or want.
Frankly, the consumer is on overload these days and the recent revelations about tainted Chinese goods are adding to the problem.
I think there is more than enough consumer information in the marketplace as it is. At some point, consumers who are looking for more have to take the initiative and ask, or look it up for themselves. You can’t please everyone all the time and the limited amount people are willing to spend for additional information or even higher quality products can’t support everything that everyone says they want.
We talk a lot these days about issues like ethics and the environment. But I am highly skeptical about how much they will really, really impact consumer purchasing patterns.
I like the shopping cart idea. Maybe we should put a scanner and speaker on the carts and every time someone with a little extra weight picks up a pint of Ben & Jerry’s it screams: “Put down the ice cream and step away from the case!”
Reality is logged everyday as we witness shoppers seeking product information through interactive digital customer service solutions in the aisle. Our data suggests approximately 25% of a store’s customer base will access product information solutions in the aisle, searching for everything from where to find an item quickly to how to prepare it.
A handful of retailers in the US have discovered the untapped opportunity in building loyalty by helping shoppers solve some of their daily problems related to meal planning. Some retailers use trained and qualified staff to provide the answers. Others will use cost effective interactive technology to provide store associates and the shopper with consistent, expert support when and where it is needed.
We owe it to the customer to convey all the important info about any product. Ingredients are fine but the nutritional label is equally if not more important to the consumer. Taking it a step further and putting info on the front of the package will help the customer make purchasing decisions faster increasing velocity on grocery products. All around consumers want to be informed and what they are consuming and I believe it extends beyond food related products. This China situation is making customers do a double take and they do have a right to know what is in the products they are buying. My observations indicate that brand image is slowly moving towards product content as opposed to positioning.
The shoppers who want multiple levels of detailed information about the products they are considering for purchase want it, and want it passionately. These people are few in the great scheme of things. Many others of us who don’t make ourselves crazy but do try to make informed choices, understand that much of the “information” presented to us can be manipulated or skewed. “Organic” certification can mean different things. How a carbon footprint is actually measured is highly questionable. What is considered a serving size is often ridiculous. Stores might better concentrate their energies and investment on keeping popular items on shelves, providing alternatives to Chinese made foodstuffs, and getting people through the check-out line efficiently.
What we shoppers in the USA want to know is only what we want to hear. Just put on the label that the product is healthy, it’s environmentally friendly, fair trade, not from China, and a low price. That should be easy enough to print a label like that. We want to be told that those potato chips are healthy. No company is going to put on their label that the product is anything otherwise. I suppose people in the UK are just as eager to be told this as we are. For some reason I picture UK shoppers bumbling around like Mr. Bean and being as inquisitive as Sherlock Holmes on each item they buy. I dread to hear what stereotype of shopper UK citizens dream up when they think of us shopping. One thing for sure is we don’t want too much information.
I agree that consumers want more information, but with a caveat. Because personally, I want more information about the products I buy, but what I really want is it delivered via search. I want to somewhere somehow input my criteria for, say, cereal–I want less than 20g of sugar, more than 5g of protein, etc., and I want to have the cereals that meet those requirements returned to me, again somehow some way. Cell phone? Shopping buddy? I don’t care.
It’s not really about MORE information (though carbon footprint is definitely a new category)–it’s about efficiently wading through all that information to find the products that I’m looking for. The last thing I want is to have to stand at the shelf trying to figure out which coffee is more carbon efficient, while meanwhile my kids are terrorizing the store.