According to a recent Food Marketing Institute research report from this year, results indicate that US shoppers are looking for clear and honest transparency in product information; details that will assure them of the safety of the food.

Many consumers these days are skeptical about the claims that manufacturers make regarding their products and a number of consumers are longing for more transparency in the market; people want to know what is going into the food that they are putting on their dinner table.

The same survey also found that consumers view the grocery store that they frequent, their primary store, as an ally in their pursuit of overall wellness. So it makes sense that they increasingly want to be sure that they are being told honest information and that product manufacturers and retailers are being transparent and somewhat vulnerable in their pursuit of sales.

Consumers want accountability, fairness, quality, and to be able to obtain valuable and reliable information about the product in a reasonable amount of time. The companies out in the market that can meet these needs and cater to what the customer wants, are going to be the ones that excel.



A variety of different initiatives have been used to try and assist consumers in their journey of selecting what products are right for them.

Some options have been things like using certain food label certification programs to ensure quality ingredients were used. Another has been the introduction of a variety of apps that can be used to scan the bar code on the product, revealing a host of details about the manufacturer, ingredients, and more.

Consumers want to know where their food is coming from not only in the US but around the world and food producers need to be aware of this or they will be left behind.

A recent national survey found that 67 percent of consumers want to know the nutritional profile of every dish that they are consuming when they go out to eat. And if they cannot readily find out what is in the dish, then they likely aren't going to trust it. It's clear that consumers want to know what's in it and where it came from.



According to a report from back in 2015, it's estimated that only 38 percent of consumers in the US trust what companies have to say about their products on the food label.

When it comes to trying to convince the consumers of the need to purchase the product, selling points like “made with natural ingredients” and “made naturally” might not cut it with many. These sorts of selling terms saturate the market today and because of this they've earned themselves a lot of scrutiny.

To those food producers and companies that are able to effectively demonstrate a forthcoming transparency in educating their consumers on what their product contains and where it comes from etc, the better they are going to do in the market.

We can see that a number of fast food restaurants are trying to take this approach, making commercials and other marketing advertisements about where their eggs, meat, and other products come from.

For any higher cost involved with transparency in food production, and using better quality ingredients etc, consumers are willing to pay it.

This is evident by the fact that many consumers are willing to pay a premium for things like grass-fed beef, butter, pasture raised eggs and so on, because they believe the product is a higher quality product. According to 2015 data from Nielsen, about 66 percent of consumers would be willing to pay more for products that are made with organic ingredients or made using sustainable methods.

Trust can be built through transparency and many product makers would do well to take note of this and to embrace honesty about their products with consumers.

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Sources:

http://www.supermarketnews.com/consumer-trends/shoppers-want-transparency-fmi-trends-report-reveals

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/video/research-indicates-consumers-want-transparency-food-labeling

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Manufacturers/Fishpeople-wants-to-fix-the-fundamentally-broken-seafood-industry

https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/505394/two-thirds-of-consumers-want-menu-nutritional-information

https://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/articles/2017/06/three-steps-to-achieve-transparency-in-beverages.aspx