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25 March 2008
Singapore
According to a global food packaging survey conducted by The Nielsen Company, a shop’s environmental friendliness is the last consideration for consumers in determining where to spend their grocery dollars, while Good Value for Money ranks as the number-one influencer of store choice.
Conducted in mid 2007, the study surveyed 26,486 internet users in 47 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East, on the factors that influenced their choice of grocery store.
Environmental Friendliness was the least important factor for consumers among others such as price, product quality, convenience and location, when determining where to shop for groceries. The 28 percent of world consumers who ranked environmentally-friendly stores using recycle bags/package as the most important consideration for their grocery store choice were in major opposition to the predominant 85 percent who considered Good Value for Money the number one influencer in their choice of store.
In line with the global findings, consumers in Singapore also placed least importance on environmentally friendly store policies, while reiterating the importance of Good Value for Money factor. Whereas nearly everyone interviewed (92%) considered Good value for Money as a deciding factor, less than a fifth (17%) claimed to be influenced by a store’s environmentally friendliness policies.
“Despite growing consumer demand for shops to be environmentally friendly in conducting their business, consumers don’t necessarily make this a priority when choosing where to shop – good value for money and convenience come out tops instead,” commented Soumya Saklani, Director, The Nielsen Company. “It’s interesting to see that of the 10 countries where consumers were most supportive of shops being environmentally friendly, seven hailed from Asia Pacific.”
In Asia Pacific, China and India lead the region with 39 percent of consumers in each market considering the environment when making their store choice, followed by 35 percent in the Philippines.
Trading aspects of packaging for a better environment
Nielsen’s survey further questioned these environmentally-aware consumers to determine what aspects of packaging they would be prepared to give up if it meant it would benefit the environment.
Globally, nearly half of the world’s eco-aware consumers would be willing to give up packaging in a shape that enables it to stack or store at home easier (49%), packaging that enables them to keep as a re-sealable container (48%) and packaging that means it’s easier to carry home (47%)--if it meant it would benefit the environment. At the other end of the scale, the same consumers were less willing to give up packaging that would affect the hygiene (27%) and condition (30%) of the products.
The preferences of consumers in Asia Pacific and in Singapore were generally in line with the global average, although Singaporeans appeared slightly more willing than their other Asian counterparts to give up the above-mentioned aspects of packaging.
“Cultural attitudes towards food and shopping habits are a big influencer of packaging preferences and we see a distinct contrast between East and West attitudes,” observed Mr Saklani. “Asian shoppers also placed less priority on packaging that preserves food – perhaps because they shop frequently and don’t tend to buy products with a long shelf life.”
According to Nielsen ShopperTrends, Asian consumers place a high priority on fresh food – 90 percent of urban Asian shoppers go to Wet Markets to buy their main Fresh Food and shop as often as 10 times a month at traditional grocery stores. In Europe, shoppers visit the supermarket/hypermarket/discounters on average only six to eight times a month.
While packaging that would affect the hygiene and condition of products are the least willing-to-give up options for eco-consumers, people in Vietnam are desperate enough to lead the pack with half willing to give up these aspects of packaging in return for a better environment. People in Taiwan and Hong Kong are the least willing in the region to give up packaging for the hygiene of products despite benefits to the environment.
At the other end of the scale, Thai consumers (27%) topped global rankings as the nation least likely to give up any aspect of packaging for the sake of the environment, followed by 16 percent of Japanese. According to findings from Nielsen packs@work studies in Asia, Japanese consumers claim aesthetics to be a strong driver of pack preference.
“As global concern and awareness about the need to preserve the environment increase, consumers around the world are demanding greater responsibility from retailers and FMCG manufacturers. And while eco-friendly packaging might not be the top priority for shoppers today, it’s certainly a growing consumer demand the food industry cannot ignore,” said Mr Saklani.
Click here to download the PDF report.
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