We hear a lot about traceability and the provenance of the food we eat these days, and I’ve recently discovered a ‘cracking’ example of how an Australian company has responded to consumers’ desire to know where their food comes from.
Sunny Queen Eggs is a well-established company which believes that Australians ‘deserve to wake up to the finest quality fresh farm eggs every day’. On the inside of their egg cartons they highlight a dozen reasons why you can buy Sunny Queen Eggs with confidence, listing off benefits such as hens roaming freely during the day and the eggs being free from added hormones and antibiotics. The company has gone one step further, however, by offering a ‘Chook-tracker’ on its website that shows the hens going about their business via a live webcam link. In other words, consumers don’t have to take the company’s word that it’s doing the right thing, but can see for themselves.
This is a great example of the Considered Consumption trend, which according to GfK’s TrendKey framework is on the rise in many countries around the world, including Australia. By this we mean that more and more Australians are valuing companies that are honest and transparent in everything they do and have nothing to hide. For instance, a third of Australians say they always read the label before they buy any product and this figure is increasing year on year.
This trend really came to prominence during the economic crisis, when consumers increasingly began to scrutinise companies and organizations – particularly the financial institutions that received much of the blame for the crisis. What’s particularly interesting though is that the trend has really stuck and grown in importance even as the effects of the financial crisis have softened – here in Australia at any rate. Furthermore, the scrutiny has extended well beyond financial institutions to all categories.
Whilst not everyone will have the time to spend hours monitoring the behaviour of the hens via the Egg cam, the key takeout here is exactly how transparent the company is being.
So whether you’re considering clear packaging, offering visits to your farms or changing to more simple and straightforward terms and conditions, I think we can all be egg-spired by Sunny Queen Eggs.
‘Considered Consumption’ is one of the 12 major consumer trends identified by GfKs TrendKey consumer trends framework. The consumer trends are identified through depth analysis of GfKs largest, longest-standing and most robust consumer trends study in the world – Roper Reports Worldwide.
Jodie Roberts is the Asia Pacific Regional Director for GfK Consumer Trends, in 2013 Roper Reports Worldwide will cover an unrivalled 11 countries in the AP region.
