What Consumers Look For On Product Labels

“There are certain ingredients I look for that will cause me to automatically reject purchasing a product no matter what other attributes the product might have.”
—A U.S. consumer on why she reads packaged food labels

We live in an era where consumer packaged goods are on the brink of resembling NASCAR racers as a seemingly endless array of phrases and seals designating healthfulness or ethical production are stamped all over a product’s label. With a dizzying array of information confronting them at every shelf, who can blame consumers for being confused or even a little bit dazed when it comes to label reading?

Yet, despite the prolific spread of information on packaged goods, consumers are doing more than just glancing at labels, they are reading them. In fact, despite the rise of symbols and certifications—spanning the gamut from “Mediterranean Diet” to “Tooth Friendly” or “Certified Humane” to “Free Range”—The Hartman Group’s “Pulse Report: Label Reading from a Consumer Perspective” finds label readership is on the rise. Just under one-third of American consumers (30 percent) are reading labels much more frequently today compared to one year ago with another 31 percent of consumers reading labels slightly more often now. This underscores the seriousness with which consumers approach label reading (Figure 1).

Much like consumers we examined in previous Hartman Group wellness lifestyle research, today’s consumers examine labels according to their personal lifestyle priorities. This is due, in part, to the cultural equations consumers are drawing between nutrition, food safety and personal health. Now we see large groups of consumers adding label reading as part of health and wellness lifestyles as they attempt to try to comprehend “what’s in the box.” In the area of food and beverages, across consumer segments, label reading appears to be a strong habit that is increasing in intensity.

Continue...

Pages: 1 2 3 Next