“Food products: when less information is more digestible”

by Xavier Terlet, XTC world innovation

Let’s face it: today’s consumers are looking at the food products they buy from a whole new angle. The pace of change in the past decade has increased dramatically, profoundly affecting the offering of new foods that hit the market every year.

Consumers are becoming true, independent actors. They’re taking responsibility for the products they consume and they’re calling on food manufacturers to take this independence and responsibility seriously.
Consequently, these new consumers are increasingly refusing to accept diktats and models imposed from above. They want to arm themselves with arguments to back their own convictions. They don’t take as gospel what celebrities or experts tell them, not unless these so-called authorities can demonstrate the benefits of the products they’re touting.

Similarly, consumers are rejecting dubious or confusing marketing claims. They want transparency and information they can understand. They reject anything that’s too complex. And they will reward manufacturers who describe their products in an up-front and readily understandable way.

· Where is it made?
· By whom?
· How?
· With what ingredients?
· What nutritional details do I need to understand?
· Are any of the ingredients incompatible with me, e.g. allergies, religious restrictions?
· Are any of the ingredients bad for me?
· Does the product show respect for people and the planet?
· And so on...

And today, consumers have new means of finding, decoding and understanding information, and the Web, mobile phones and social networking sites relay this information to homes, points of sale and around the world, instantly.
In that light, today’s consumers reject products that don’t suit them. In the same way, they even reject products they’re used to buying, products they now have doubts about and no longer understand.
Can they continue talking about “vegetable fat” to hide the use of the infamous palm oil?
So yet again, we must address today’s consumers. They are realistic and demanding. They don’t mind a sales pitch, but they want it to be an honest one. And they still want their products to be attractive. It’s time to let the cacophony of information give way to explanation and understanding.
Enjoyment and doubt don’t mix well. But more than anything, eating is about enjoyment.Tapez ici votre texte