Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Seventh Framework Programme Grant Agreement No Organic Certification from the Consumer Perspective Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm University of Kassel, Germany Improving the Organic Certification System Workshop in Brussels, October 14, 2011

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Consumers and organic certification Ultimate purpose of organic certification system: Guarantee for consumers that a product was produced according to organic principles Organic label = tool to signal consumers that product is certified organic Many different organic standards and certification logos: Mandatory EU logo Voluntary logos National governmental logos Labels of private organisations

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing 1. To analyse consumer response to different organic certification logos, in particular consumer awareness, perception and trust in different organic certification logos and underlying standards and certification systems consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay for different organic certification logos 2. To analyse consumer attitudes towards a mandatory EU logo for organic food products Research objectives

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Methods Two-step procedure of qualitative and quantitative methods in seven countries (CH, CZ, DE, DK, IT, TR, UK) 1.Focus group discussions with 218 organic consumers Purpose: Explore spectrum of consumer views 2.Choice experiments and interviews with 2,840 organic consumers Purpose of choice experiments: Determine consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay Purpose of structured interviews: Quantify consumer awareness, perception and trust regarding voluntary organic logos and attitudes towards mandatory EU logo

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Methods Design of the choice experiments Consumers asked to make buying decisions among 4 product alternatives with different organic labels (4 labels per country) different prices (country-specific absolute prices) Real products used (organic apples and eggs) Consumers had to pay for chosen products

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Set-up of the choice experiments in Germany

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Organic labels in the choice experiments Label 1Label 2Label 3Label 4 Organic product without logo

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Reference point: Organic apples without a logo * Turkey: Organic apples with the governmental logo * Mean willingness-to-pay (apples) 20% 40% 60% 80% 0% WTP in % of average market price

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Reference point: Organic eggs without a logo * Turkey: Organic eggs with the governmental logo * Mean willingness-to-pay (eggs) 20% 40% 60% 80% 0% WTP in % of average market price

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Key results: Willingness-to-pay Willingness-to-pay (WTP) for certain organic logos clearly higher than for organic products without a certification logo Well-known logos perceived as trustworthy attracted the highest WTP Great differences between different kinds of logos and countries Old EU logo: WTP relatively low except in Italy National governmental logos: highest WTP in Czech Republic and Denmark; in Germany similar WTP for Bio-Siegel and Demeter Labels of private organisations: diverse picture across the countries

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Key results: Consumer perceptions and trust Consumer perceptions of and trust in an organic logo influence the willingness-to-pay for that logo BUT Consumers have low level of factual knowledge about organic standards/ control system/ regulation Consumer perceptions mostly limited to “strict” versus “less strict” standards/ control systems Consumer perceptions subjective, i.e. not necessarily based on facts

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing It is a good idea to have an EU-wide logo for certified organic products. Share of participants who agreed with the statement It is a good idea to have the same minimum standards for organic products all over the EU. Key results: Attitudes towards mandatory EU logo CZ DE DK IT UK CZ DE DK IT UK

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing I have great trust in the inspection system behind an EU-wide organic logo. I have great trust in the organic standards behind an EU-wide organic logo. CZ DE DK IT UK Share of participants who agreed with the statement CZ DE DK IT UK Key results: Attitudes towards mandatory EU logo

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Key results: Attitudes towards mandatory EU logo While EU-wide logo generally welcomed, different levels of consumer trust in mandatory EU logo across study countries, according to a.Consumers’ familiarity with the old EU logo b.Presence of dominant national governmental / private organic labels c.Attitudes towards the EU in general Share of people who tend to trust the EU (Eurobarometer 73 Spring 2010) UK: 20%  lowest level of all EU countries EU Ø: 42% EU generally not perceived as a homogenous entity Lack of trust in organic products from selected EU countries

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Further results:

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Factors influencing the WTP Comparison between frequent and occasional buyers of organic food: Label more preferred by… …frequent buyers (Denmark, Germany, Italy, Switzerland) …occasional buyers (Italy) …frequent buyers (Switzerland) …frequent buyers (United Kingdom)* …frequent buyers (Czech Republic) …occasional buyers (Germany)* …frequent buyers (Turkey) …frequent buyers (Turkey)* * observed only for one of the two tested products

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Sample description quantitative study Gender composition (in %) GenderAllCHCZDEDKITTRUK Female Male Total100.0

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Sample description quantitative study Age composition (in %) Age groupAllCHCZDEDKITTRUK yrs yrs Total100.0

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Sample description quantitative study Household size AllCHCZDEDKITUKTR Ø household size Share of single households in %

Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing Level of education (in %) Sample description quantitative study EducationAllCHCZDEDKITTRUK No qualification years school A level College, university Total100.0