Shoppers will ditch organics to save cash

A new survey says that consumers looking to save money are not prepared to compromise with their health or the environment, but they will give organics a miss if push comes to shove.

When asked what they were willing to sacrifice to save money, almost two-thirds (61%) of the 2,000 adults polled by consultant The Futures Company in February said they were willing to do without organics.
In contrast, just 32% said they were willing to sacrifice environmental benefits, only 13% would compromise on health benefits and less than one in 10 (8%) said they would sacrifice ‘natural ingredients’. Just over a third (35%) said they might cut down on Fairtrade products to save cash.
This suggested that the organics lobby, which has suffered from sharply declining sales in recent weeks, needed to work much harder to convince consumers that it offered genuine environmental benefits, said Chris Grantham, who presented the survey at a conference last week hosted by the Food and Drink Federation’s biscuit, cake, chocolate and confectionery sector group.
It also suggested that consumers were not really convinced by arguments that organic foods offered nutritional benefits, said Grantham.
As for promotions, survey results also suggested that excessive discounting by big brands in order to tempt shoppers in a recession was a risky strategy as 71% agreed that “a brand that lowers its price during the current economic crisis” was “normally overpriced”. This was a clear sign to brands that ‘needless discounting’ might damage brand equity over the long-term, he warned.
While sales of some premium lines had struggled lately, brands that positioned themselves as ‘sanity’ purchases: affordable day-to-day treats or little luxuries rather than indulgent products, still had good prospects, said Grantham. “People also want familiar, comforting products, and you can see many brands positioning themselves in this way at the moment.”
There was also evidence that some consumers were likely to change their spending habits for the long-term as a result of the recession, with 44% believing that “the recession will change consumer culture forever” and 58% agreeing that “the world before the recession was a consumption-mad throw-away society”, said Grantham.
Overall, he said, consumers were being more cautious, considered and controlled in their purchasing, with many thinking much more carefully about what represented value for money, even though for many disposable income had gone up as oil prices came down and mortgage payments were lower as interest rates dropped. “They are much more worried about job security, pensions and so on, even if day-to-day items have come down in price like petrol and food.”
Formerly known as The Henley Centre, The Futures Company is a future insights consultancy that works closely with leading consumer goods companies.