Organic consumers surveyed

Online surveys by professional market researchers like the AC Nielsen group provide only approximate insight into those factors influencing consumer behaviour in the market for organic goods and services. Experience shows that rapidly shifting views about health, environmental issues, and food safety can also precipitate abrupt shifts in consumer behaviour. In many such instances the most immediate economic effects are delivered prior to the distribution of relevant statistical data.

AC Nielsen’s most recent survey on organic consumer trends identified price and lack of credibility as two of the significant barriers against the purchase of foods promoting specific health benefits. From a large sample distributed across Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas, the survey reported that 47% of respondents considered organic foods too expensive. Whether this information offers some practical benefit to producers, manufacturers, or retailers of organic goods is uncertain. It obviously requires an appreciation of specific regional influences and some further engagement as a means of contextualisation. For example, what did respondents have in mind as the alternative when asked about their attitudes towards organic food items? Clearly, the diversity of social and cultural influences in the aforementioned regions would suggest that any alternatives to organic food would not necessarily be uniform or easily defined.

Similarly, concerns about credibility are not particularly useful unless they qualify the specific areas where problems are perceived to occur. The AC Nielsen survey finds 31% of respondents from the Asia Pacific region are skeptical that foods labelled organic are produced in the manner described. Consequently, it becomes imperative to know the history of food production scandals or other difficulties which might have resulted in those current attitudes. Similar questions might be raised in relation to varying levels of credibility afforded to individual examples of organic produce. In a given region, why would organic eggs be given a higher credibility rating than organic vegetables?

In each of these instances, the perception of affordability and credibility can alter dramatically within a brief period of time. There is also the potential for consumer behaviours to precede the distribution of statistical data relating to these (time sensitive) perceptions.