Most consumers are concerned about the environment. They are also concerned about issues like animal welfare, child labour, fair wages for food producers in developing countries and a host of other matters that we commonly assemble under the umbrella of sustainability. And to an increasing extent we do see information regarding sustainability related issues on food labels. Still, the role that sustainability plays when consumers make choices in the supermarket seems to be small.
But without consumer support - support in the form of daily choices made in the supermarket - there will be no transition to more sustainable food systems. Sustainability cannot be brought about by regulation and corporate social responsibility alone, it needs the market pull from consumers.
The discrepancy between consumer concern about sustainability-related issues on the one side and the choices that consumers make in the supermarket on the other side is known as the attitude-behaviour gap. This gap appears in many contexts, not only with regard to sustainability. If we understand the reasons for why this gap occurs, we also get a handle that we can use to achieve a greater congruence of attitude and behaviour, of general concern and choices in the supermarket.
"If we want consumers to make decisions that mirror their concern for sustainability-related issues, we need to provide them with products where there is no trade-off between sustainability and taste, healthiness or even price"
One main reason for this gap is that sustainability considerations are not the main driver of food choice. If the more sustainable product is also the product that is less tasty, more expensive, or even less healthy, only few consumers will choose the more sustainable product. The other main reason relates to the way in which consumers make choices. Food choices in the supermarket are not the result of effortful, thoughtful deliberation. Consumers need to make many choices in a short time period, and these choices will therefore be habit-based, spontaneous, superficial and generally simplified in all possible ways. Consumer psychologists say that these choices are based on simple heuristics - for example, buying what you always bought, buying the known brand, buying the cheapest - instead of extended decisions.
If we want consumers to make decisions that mirror their concern for sustainability-related issues, we need to provide them with products where there is no trade-off between sustainability and taste, healthiness or even price. And we need to provide them with ways in which the sustainable choice can become the simplest choice - give consumers the possibility to adopt heuristics where sustainability is built in. Sustainability labels are only a beginning. Of course it is necessary for their meaning to be clear, that consumers are well aware of them, and that they are credible. But first when they develop brand-like characteristics - when consumers take them as indicators of the best choice, not just the most sustainable choice - will consumer choice become a real change agent in the development towards a more sustainable food sector. Market pull from consumers asking for more sustainable food will therefore not come about by itself. It needs a concerted effort from the actors in the food chain.