SPECIAL REPORT:
Navigating consumer behavior in the Information Age
From the 2023 Kemin Intestinal Health Symposium
By Krissa Welshans
Agriculture did a wonderful job accommodating the Industrial Age, but according to David Fikes, executive director at the Food Industry Association (FMI), the industry is now facing a new age: the Information Age, or as he like to refer to it, the “Communication Age.” This is being done during an era of fewer farms and farmers but a growing number of consumers.
“Once again you are being asked to accommodate standards of a societal norm,” Fikes told attendees of the Kemin Intestinal Health Symposium. “The modicum of exchange in the Information Age is information; it’s data. It’s ‘what do you know that I need to know’ and ‘how can you get that information to me?’”
Fikes explained that most farmers went into the business not because they couldn’t wait to tell people about how they do it; “they wanted to do it the way their fathers, grandfathers, and grandmothers taught them.”
“Now, you have to be able to communicate about what you’re doing in order to survive, in order to accommodate this society.”
Fikes also pointed out that the rate of societal changes has increased over time, “where we went from the telegraph, to the telephone, to the radio, to the TV in a matter of decades.”
Things moved from a rate of happening every millennium to suddenly happening every century to now every decade. “What I would hold up to you now is it’s a matter of years, and sometimes it feels like months, that we are accommodating new sweeping changes — new innovations — that are making us do things differently.”
Things have become so complex, and humans are constantly being disrupted by change. As such, consumers want more information, and they are a little on edge, Fikes said. “If they’re frustrated with you, they will move over to another product that won’t frustrate them quite as much.”
Food production no a “food chain”
From 1950 to 1990, the traditional consumer food equation had three factors to it: cost, convenience and taste. Today, the consumer is still asking for those factors, but they are also now asking questions around sourcing, animal welfare, labor practices, etc.
Not all consumers are asking these questions, Fikes said, “but as a conglomerate, the consumer is asking many more questions than ever before.”
Adding to the complexity of the situation, he said, “The food chain is no longer farm to fork; it’s now lab to lips.”
Genetic advancements in livestock and crops are now part of the information consumers want to know, he explained.
Further, “the food chain is not really a chain,” Fikes said. “It’s not individual links that are linked together; it’s more of a fiber optic cable where what you do has a direct correlation to what the consumer wants to know.”
As such, the responsibility of each part of the food production system goes all the way to the consumer, he said. “You are a strand in that fiber optic cable.”
How important is transparency?
An overused word and an underutilized concept, Fikes said transparency “is giving the consumer the answer to the question they are asking in a way they can understand it, and in a means that they find appropriate.”
Too much information can overload consumers and provide information they don’t necessarily want to know, he explained.
Surveys by FMI found that 36% of consumers say transparency is extremely important, 35% say it is important and another 20% say it is somewhat important.
“Only 8% are saying transparency’s not important,” Fikes noted, adding that consumers want the manufacturer or the supplier to provide answers to their questions, and they want the retailers to connect them to that information.
Just two years ago, the total share of consumers expressing the importance of transparency was 68%. Information to be released by FMI in October will show that the number has jumped to 75%.
“So, we’re seeing transparency continuing to grow in the mind of the consumer as being very important,” Fikes said.
Information of interest includes certifications and claims, as well as how the product was produced.
Nine out of 10 consumers are looking at labels, Fikes relayed, adding that most of them are trying to avoid negatives: salt, sugar, fat, antibiotics, minimal processing, etc.
Despite the complexity of the situation, he said there are opportunities for those involved in the food supply system to inform consumers. “Will every consumer go to every piece of detail? No, they won’t. But they’ll rest more comfortably knowing they could,” he said.
Watch the full presentation from David Fikes and access all 2023 Kemin Intestinal Health Symposium content at kemin.com/symposium.