Research reveals trust gap between brands and consumers

FoodSure*, a food marketing and independent food verification company championing the Honest Brand Movement in South Africa, recently commissioned a well-known marketing research firm, Market Instinct**, to undergo qualitative and quantitative research to gain insight into consumer attitudes to labelling and purchasing decisions in South Africa.

Research was conducted via focus groups as well as in store interviews with females aged between 25 and 40, in LSM groups of 8-10 who have children aged between the ages of 3 and 10 years living at home, are health conscious and regularly read food labels.

"The research has revealed that consumer trust in labels and the accompanying brand is being eroded with only 15% of consumers believing everything they read on the labels, 65% feel that brands are 'quite honest', and 20% don't believe anything they see on product labels," says Amanda Rogaly, MD of FoodSure who commissioned the research.

"The high percentage of concern from consumers about the content of their products and the low number of consumers who believe labels, confirms that there is a trust gap between brands and consumers."

"The research cements our belief and vision that there is a need for independent verification of the label for manufacturers/brands to regain consumer trust and provide consumers with the peace of mind that what appears on the label is what is inside the product."

Lack of understanding

Rogaly added that the research also reveals that there is a lack of understanding around what good and acceptable levels of ingredients are in various products, and this provides the industry with an opportunity to educate consumers on reading the labels accurately.

• The full research report is available via the FoodSure website

The data available in the report includes the following:
• Activities in this consumer group in their efforts to stay healthy
• Label reading and consumer attitudes towards labels
• Specific ingredients that consumers check for revealed a wide range of categories including medication, baby food and care, ready-made meals, canned foods, cosmetics, snacking, frozen vegetables and various chicken & meat categories
• Experiences that drive consumer concern and fears, around the products they purchase
• Concerns about product contents and the magnitude of their concern
• Attitudes to no name brands

"We are positioning the SureMark stamp as the mark of all marks and a brand that will become a household name trusted by consumers in South Africa. It is therefore important that we invested in comprehensive product research to gain critical insights into consumer behaviours," concludes Rogaly.

*Research was conducted by Market Instinct, a full service market research company focusing on consumers of products and services.

The company did qualitative and quantitative research for FoodSure in February 2014. The research firm conducted group discussions as well as 300 interviews with females aged between 25 and 40 between LSM 8-10 who have children aged between 3-10 years living at home, are health conscious and regularly read food labels.

**FoodSure is championing the Honest Brand Movement for both consumers and brands in South Africa. FoodSure's mission is to bridge the trust gap between brands and consumers.