Omnichannel grocery shoppers say transparency is essential

What is transparency? According to a new report from FMI – The Food Industry Association and Label Insight, 62 percent of consumers consider brands and manufactures as transparent if they provide a full list of ingredients. Easy to read ingredients came in second (52 percent), certifications (such as ‘USDA organic’) came third, (48 percent), and in-depth nutritional information followed close behind at 47 percent.

The report also revealed that less than half of the respondents completely trust production information from manufacturers and brands (41 percent) or Government institutions (46 percent).

Consumers are also becoming more proactive when it comes to clarification of ingredients. According to the survey, 47 percent of shoppers will choose to research ingredients online in the face of confusion, and 89 percent would be more likely to seek details on a product if it had more online information.

The Transparency Trends: Omnichannel Grocery Shopping from the Consumer Perspective  report is based on data collected between 5-18 March 2020 from 1,000 U.S. omnichannel grocery shoppers who shopped online for groceries in the previous month — in addition to shopping in-store.

The report is a follow-up to The Transparency Imperative: Product Labeling from the Consumer Perspective study conducted in 2018, which examined the growing importance of transparency. This year’s research builds off of the 2018 study, diving deeper into shoppers’ behaviours and expectations for transparency with in-store and online shopping. 

“It’s one thing to know consumers want transparency, it’s another thing to act on it. We’re seeing more and more that providing detailed product information is key to building trust and loyalty with consumers,” said Tim Whiting, VP of Marketing at Label Insight. “Moving forward, brands will need to continue to listen better to their customers, continuously update their online and in-store content to keep pace with changing consumer preferences and be an open book when it comes to their products so that they can maintain and grow market share.”