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Have you just launched a new product, created a new campaign or just want to find out what concerned consumers are thinking?
Add some questions to next month's Concerned Consumer Index and get the answers you are looking for.
Questions can be added on any topic and at any time. We also have a number of sector focuses which are listed below.
Feb - Home and garden
Mar - Supermarkets
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| Greetings! |
It can't be denied that this year has absolutely flown by.
Thinking back to this time last year you could have been forgiven for wondering
what Christmas 2009 might look like. Last year we were in the midst of
an economic meltdown and it was difficult to know what the future held. During 2009 our financial markets may
have stabilised but, once again, the end of the year has put the world's
future in the balance, and this time it is the environment.
With the leaking of emails just before the Copenhagen
Summit, more climate change surveys than you could shake a stick at (80% of people believe climate change is a serious threat and are willing to make
sacrifices to combat it, nearly half of Americans, or 49%, say they are only slightly or not at all
concerned about climate change,
the list goes on) and tit for tat horse trading going on right up until
Saturday morning, it is a wonder that any sort of agreement was reached at all. It might not have been the legally binding agreement most of us were
hoping for, but there was an acceptance by most nations that rises in global
temperatures must be kept below 2C
and a pledge of $30billion to provide short-term aid to help developing
nations to cope with the effects of climate change. Let's hope more can be
achieved in 2010.
During the week we saw plenty of CEOs attending Copenhagen, but it does make
one wonder whether this was the best use of their time. After all there are
only two reasons why a CEO went to Copenhagen - to show off (aren't we doing
well..), or to slow progress. Any CEO would have been far better clearing
their diary and focusing the 2 or 3 days they spent in Copenhagen on engaging
with their own business how they can move sustainability and real change
forward in their business. Perhaps they could have got a little insight from
the recent Green Strategy 09 we were involved in - read more in our summary report. This will have far more impact and in the long term will help them and the
world far more. Business is at its best when it actually delivers. Talking is
for politicians.
Delivering in the retail
industry, even in a downturn, is proving to be the new black when it comes to
sustainability. According to Bob Gordon, head of environment at the British
Retail Consortium, the trade body for retailers: "If anything, the recession
has focused the mind. It's hard to tell whether [the emphasis on the
environment] is due to the recession or the age we are living in. Whatever is
driving it, what is clear is that investment is not slowing down." In a
recent survey for the Institute of Grocery Distribution 58% of senior food and grocery
managers considered sustainability to be a long-term commitment regardless of the
economy - 10% higher than in 2008. And consumers are planning to do more
too. A survey for Asda of its 18,000-strong consumer panel also found that
60% would make more of a conscious effort to recycle, cut out waste and
conserve energy than before the economic downturn. Let's hope this extends
to all the wrapping paper and unwanted gifts passed around over the festive
break this year!
As the holiday period arrives and chocolate becomes an
essential part of every meal, it is encouraging to see the portfolio of Fairtrade products continue its expansion. This month
Nestlé has
announced it is to source Fairtrade certified cocoa for Britain's best selling chocolate
biscuit, the KitKat. A pretty significant step considering 1 billion KitKats are sold every year in the UK. However, as we discuss in this month's
article below, does Fairtrade offer brands the differentiation that they are looking
for, or is it better to have those values but delivered in a personal way for
the brand? In this month's Concerned Consumer Index on fast food and coffee
shop outlets less than 50% of consumers are aware that any of the
outlets offer fair-trade beans. More are joining the fair-trade
movement, but there is clearly plenty more to do to deliver real business
benefit from consumers. 2009 was clearly the chocolate sector's year with Cadbury, Mars and
Nestlé all making big commitments...which sector will be making the big changes in
2010?
Christmas may be this month but next month we will be
continuing the holiday theme and looking at holidays as a focus for our
Concerned Consumer Index. It will be interesting to see what impact all the
recent disruption (think BA, Eurostar and the like) has had on what
really matters to consumers. If you would like to see more data from this
month's survey, or want to find out how to add your own questions to the next
one, please email David on david@goodbusiness.co.uk.
From everyone at Good Business we wish you all a very Happy Christmas and look forward to
being back in touch in 2010 (we are still around until 24th December
and will return on 4th January), full of renewed energy and the joys
of sustainability.
Giles Gibbons
Founder and CEO
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Fair game
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By Giles Gibbons
 Walk into any of the
coffee shops that are found throughout the UK's high streets these days and
you find yourself faced with a vast array of choices. Skinny this, double shot
that, frappe the other. Indeed, the number of possible options at Starbucks has
been calculated at over 20,000 and one helpful consumer group recently
published a 22 page guide on how to order a Starbucks coffee.
In addition to these
myriad size, taste and flavour options, most of the big chains now also offer
another layer of choice: fair trade beans. Either as an other option - fair
trade with that or not? Or as a reason to choose one chain over another. "We
only serve fair trade."
Social issues matter
At first glance, this
all seems like a good thing. After all, there is clear evidence that consumers
want to see coffee shops give their suppliers a fair deal. This is particularly
true in a recession, when everyone feels more vulnerable. In this month's
exclusive Concerned Consumer Index survey on the coffee shop and fast food
sector, conducted by Populus for the Times, 54% of consumers want coffee shops
to focus on social issues, just ahead of environmental issues and up 6% in the
last year. And the top issue consumers would like coffee shops to address is
ensuring worker are treated fairly and paid well. Offering fair trade beans seems to be one of
the clearest and the best ways to deliver against this strong consumer demand.
Plenty of commitment
And so, unsurprisingly,
the competitive coffee shop industry has jumped onboard the fair trade train. Starbucks, which currently offers fair trade
beans as an option, has committed to go 100% fair trade in 2010. McDonalds,
Pret a Manger and Wild Bean Café all offer 100% fair trade beans. Costa also
offers the fair trade option and plans to go 100% Rainforest Alliance certified
by June 2010 and has set up the Costa Foundation to "help coffee communities
grow".
And there are clear
reasons for doing this. As Kevin Hydes, Head of Marketing at Costa says "We
have chosen the Rainforest Alliance certification scheme as it helps farmers to
improve their livelihood by placing equal emphasis on environmental protection,
worker welfare and social improvements. We recognise that without the farmers
and co-operatives who grow our coffee beans, we have no business."
There is however, one
fatal flaw in this seemingly perfect model of demand and response. The consumer
has been largely left out of the loop. Less than 50% of consumers are aware
that any of the outlets offer fair
trade beans. And as this month's survey shows, a clear majority are completely
unaware of many of the higher profile commitments to fair trade, such as Starbucks' 2010 pledge (58% completely
unaware), Costa's foundation (58% completely unaware) or Pret's commitment (69%
completely unaware).
And so the majority
of people continue to think that the coffee businesses are not doing enough to
address social issues (in this month's survey 61% of consumers still do not
think the sector is doing enough) and the brands are not getting any benefit
from the actions they have taken.
A multitude of marks
A quick survey of the
options provided in the world of fair trade may help explain why. Just like the
coffee itself, there is a dizzying array of options: Fair trade and organic;
Fair trade or organic; Certified; Certified by; Rainforest alliance; UTZ; and
more.
Fairtrade, which this
year celebrates its 15th anniversary, may be one of the established
marks in the UK, however as Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade
Foundation, said despite the step changes companies have made, much more still
needs to be done.
"Over the last 15
years," she said, "we have seen Fairtrade spread through the business world,
with pioneer dedicated Fairtrade companies first taking the lead, retailers
taking the baton and now major multinationals joining the race. Today, more and
more companies are upping their game on Fairtrade."
And as with many
other social and environmental issues in many sectors, the search for a stamp
of authority and credibility has created a proliferation of marks and stamps
creating confusion and cynicism. This reduces the effectiveness of the action,
from the business perspective as it means consumers are all the more likely to
glaze over and not take note. They lack the basic bedrock of shared
understanding which enables them to make conscious choices. Instead it's all
white noise.
Choice will keep us on our toes
So what should the
coffee shops, and all the other companies which face similar eco mark mayhem and
madness do?
The most obvious
answer might be to establish an industry standard, so that there's only one
mark which consumers can come to understand and look out for. But is that the
long term solution? Or isn't there actually, as the coffee shop menu suggests,
something to be said for choice?
In a competitive,
capitalist world, the answer has to lie with choice. Which, after all. offers a
route to differentiation. It also, however requires work, on the behalf of the
coffee shop in question. The companies need to accept that the bedrock of understanding
is not there. And that they need to build it. They need to accept that
consumers' current social and environmental intelligence levels are low. That
this is all relatively new. And that the impact is intangible and hard to
prove. And slowly work to build trust and educate people on what they're doing
and why and what difference it makes. And, importantly, why it is the better
route than that taken by the coffee shop right next door. And they need to do all
this in a way that fits with their overall brand image, and to communicate it
in their voice. This is the only way to make the choice meaningful.
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