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?