Key Takeaways
- The German market can be characterised as a “mature” leader when it comes to sustainability where consumers are mindful and influenced by sustainability when choosing food and drink, meaning big demand for sustainability benefits.
- There will be high scrutiny on any sustainability claims so make sure you have the detail to back it up; 1 in 4 say they are very confident they know what sustainability means when it comes to food and drink, significantly higher than the global average.
- This is a leading market across a number of aspects of sustainability including efforts towards reducing packaging, food waste and buying products with higher animal welfare. The latter is very high when compared with other global markets, potentially driven by the Haltungsform label on meat in German supermarkets that provides a score for animal welfare on packaging, bringing the topic more front of mind when shopping, and becoming a “must have” around beef.
- Local is a big sustainability topic in this market as we see in some other Northern and Western European markets. It is the most influential aspect of sustainability on food and drink choices.
- We see greater personal responsibility taken on by consumers in Germany, accepting that they have responsibility for improving sustainability, meaning they are willing to make efforts to be more sustainable, which consequently impacts their purchasing habits.
77%
Of German consumers have made an effort to buy products with higher welfare standards in the last 12 months, significantly higher than the global average
44%
Of German consumers say food and drink that is local with low food miles will influence their grocery choices, ahead of any other attribute
73%
Are willing to make changes to their lifestyle to be more sustainable
Priority Sectors
- The top sustainability influences on beef, dairy, lamb and even PCF include high animal welfare standards and local/low food miles. Alongside these, grass/pasture raised credentials is a top influence for beef, lamb and dairy.
34%
Of German beef buyers are willing to pay a premium for beef with high animal welfare standards, ahead of any other attribute
Prioritisation Graphs
The graphs display which sustainability attributes consumers find most appealing and are most willing to pay a premium for in the priority categories. The horizontal axis is based on the overall appeal of this sustainability measure in this sector, the vertical axis shows the extent to which people would be willing to pay more for this benefit.
Hover over each datapoint for more information and navigate to other categories by clicking the right or left arrow on the navigation bar below each graph.
