Introduction
 
Awareness of the ethical issues affecting food, drinks and personal care has been growing over the last decade, and this awareness is now having a real impact on food, drinks and personal care. To target ethical consumers, manufacturers and retailers need to ensure that they respond to their concerns by modifying their practices, updating products and effectively communicating any changes.
 

 
Scope
 
Current and forecast numbers of natural and organic consumers by country.
 
Value of the key natural and organic food, drinks and personal care product markets by country.
 
Detailed insights into the ethical issues that consumers are most influenced by in their purchasing decisions and how they act on their convictions.
 
Review of leading corporate social responsibility programs, labeling schemes and how these effectively attract ethical consumers.
 
Highlights
 
Dutch and French consumers are the most willing to pay a premium for ethical products, with 67% and 60% respectively claiming that they would do so.
 

 
The number of loyal natural food, drinks and personal care users in Europe and the US is predicted to increase from 89 million in 2004 to 173 million in 2009. In the US, the proportion of loyal users will increase from 12% in 2004 to 24% by 2009, while the equivalent figures for Europe are 14% and 25%.
 

 
Overall 67% of consumers in the US and Europe claim to have boycotted a food, drinks or personal care company's goods on ethical grounds. According the Co-op's index, UK companies lost US$2.7bn of sales through consumer boycotts in 2003.
 

 
Reasons to Purchase
 
Access comprehensive data on the opportunity that the growth of natural and organic consumers are creating.
 
Understand how growing ethical concerns influence consumers' purchasing behavior and how this will evolve over the next five years.
 
Learn how to successfully target ethical consumers by effectively communicating to them how you are meeting their expectations.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
 
Introduction 3
 
The future decoded 3
 
Action points 3
 
CHAPTER 2 THE FUTURE DECODED 3
 
Introduction 3
 
Consumers are increasingly acting on their ethical beliefs 3
 
The proportion of consumers acting ethically is growing 3
 
Consumers are increasingly likely to pay more for ethical goods 3
 
More consumers are turning to natural and organic products 3
 
The number of consumers of natural products is rapidly growing 3
 
The proportion of loyal users is increasing 3
 
The value of natural and fresh food and drink sales is rising 3
 
Natural and fresh food and drink is driven by the meat sector 3
 
Growth in organics will remain healthy 3
 
Consumers are turning to natural and ethical personal care 3
 
Both natural and ethical personal care are growing 3
 
Ethical issues matter most to food and drinks 3
 
Most consumers find ethics most relevant to food and drinks 3
 
Fewer consumers attach importance to ethics in personal care 3
 
Many consumers wish to – and do – act on their convictions 3
 
Over two-thirds of consumers have boycotted a CPG company 3
 
Environmental concerns have the most influence on consumers 3
 
Social concerns also feature highly in consumers’ priorities 3
 
Consumers are turning to alternative distribution channels 3
 
Case study: UK and US farmers’ markets 3
 
Time-poor ethical consumers often turn to deliveries 3
 
Natural personal care consumers have different motivations 3
 
What consumers want from natural personal care 3
 
Credibility of natural personal care 3
 
Conclusions 3
 
Ethical concerns increasingly guide consumers’ choices 3
 
CPG players must not dismiss ethical consumerism as a fad 3
 
Regaining consumers’ trust is key 3
 
CHAPTER 3 ACTION POINTS 3
 
Introduction 3
 
Make the distinctive properties of natural products clear 3
 
Promote natural personal care products as being healthy 3
 
Use natural positioning to develop a unique proposition 3
 
Be clear about the ethical and natural properties of products 3
 
Make verifiable claims about natural products 3
 
Make sure your natural ingredients are ethically sourced 3
 
Encourage retailers to develop a market feel 3
 
Consumers enjoy shopping in markets 3
 
Case study: Coco’s Fresh Food Markets 3
 
Capitalize on latent demand 3
 
Use reliable labeling schemes to build trust 3
 
Adopt effective yet honest communications strategies 3
 
CSR pays no dividends if consumers don’t know about it 3
 
CSR creates goodwill amongst employees as well as consumers 3
 
Engage in cross-industry ethical agreements 3
 
Case study: the Common Code for the Coffee Community 3
 
Help to educate consumers about food production 3
 
Rectify consumer misconceptions 3
 
An interest in production methods and health go hand in hand 3
 
CHAPTER 4 APPENDIX 3
 
Supplementary data 3
 
Definitions 3
 
Research methodology 3
 
Relevant links 3
 
How to contact experts in your industry 3
 

 
LIST OF TABLES
 
Table 1: Consumer survey: “Please rate the extent to which you have bought more or less ethical or socially-responsible goods and services in the past year.” 3
 
Table 2: Percentage and total number of natural (including organic) food and drink consumers by usage status, Europe and US, 2004-2009 3
 
Table 3: Value of natural (including organic) food and drink markets by key product markets, Europe and US, 2004-2009 3
 
Table 4: Value of organic food and drink markets by key product markets, Europe and US, 2004-2009 3
 
Table 5: Naturals % share of overall personal care market, 1999-2009 3
 
Table 6: Total value of natural personal care market, 1999-2009 (€bn and US$bn) 3
 
Table 7: Ethical personal care market value, 2004-2009 3
 
Table 8: Consumer survey: “for which type of product do you think that ethical considerations are most important?” (% respondents) 3
 
Table 9: Structure of the European organic food retail market, 2002 3
 
Table 10: Motivators for the use of natural personal care products (% survey respondents citing) 3
 
Table 11: Barriers to use of natural personal care products by non-users (% survey respondents citing) 3
 
Table 12: Percentage and total number of organic food and drink consumers by usage status, Europe and US, 2004-2009 3
 
Table 13: Consumer survey: “With regards to food and drinks, how aware are you of the following issues and how much do they influence your purchasing behavior?” 3
 
Table 30: Definitions used in this report 3
 

 
LIST OF FIGURES
 
Figure 1: Ethical consumer behavior by country, 2000-2005 3
 
Figure 2: Willingness to pay more for ethical products by country, 2000-2005 3
 
Figure 3: Defining natural personal care 3
 
Figure 4: Consumer survey: “For which type of product do you think that ethical considerations are most important?” (% respondents) 3
 
Figure 5: Consumer survey: main reason for boycotting a food, drinks or personal care manufacturer’s products 3
 
Figure 6: Consumer survey: “With regard to food and drinks, how aware are you of the following issues and how much do they influence your purchasing behavior?” 3
 
Figure 7: Rates of household waste recycling by country, Europe, 2003 3
 
Figure 8: French food certification schemes: consumers are often confused by what they actually indicate 3
 
Figure 9: The EU’s food labels guarantee provenance and production methods but not quality 3
 
Figure 10: Consumer survey: “Which of these ethical commitments would most improve your disposition towards buying a particular company’s food, drink or personal products?” 3