Key Takeaways
- Irish consumers have embraced certain aspects of sustainability like food waste reduction, local and packaging. Sustainability overall though has a relatively modest influence on shopper’s choices right now when compared to global norms; Irish consumers however expect to put a greater focus on sustainability in the future.
- A particular impediment is the perceived price attached to more sustainable products, with 3 in 4 saying they would like to buy more sustainable options, but they are often too expensive. Communicating on the value of sustainability is key, globally, to ensure your brand can achieve a premium for a sustainability benefit.
- In general, Irish consumers are alert and well-informed when it comes to sustainability. They will become more so in the future and therefore, it should be a priority for food producers, especially as they put the responsibility for more sustainable food and drink on the food producer more than any other stakeholder.
80%
Of all grocery shoppers say they are willing to make changes to their lifestyle to be more sustainable, significantly higher than the global average
44%
Claim quality assurance has an impact on their overall grocery choice, more than any other sustainability attribute
71% of Irish consumers say
buying more sustainably-produced products will become more important in the next 3 years
Priority Sectors
- The impact of Bord Bia’s Quality Mark is clear around certain categories, as quality assurance and traceability are of critical importance when it comes to choosing beef, dairy and seafood. Grass-fed credentials and high welfare standards also come to the fore for beef and dairy.
- Interestingly for seafood when we look around the world, it seems that MSC certification is relatively less embedded in the Irish market as a priority; being caught “wild” is more of a premium-driver for the Irish seafood consumer.
- PCF priorities, beyond quality assurance, relate to the core consumer demands around packaging and food waste minimisation.
28%
Of seafood consumers say they are willing to pay more for seafood that is “caught wild, not farmed”, more than any other seafood 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.
