As a supplier of premium grade food ingredients to food manufacturers what matters to them and their end consumers matters to us.
Health and wellness have been important influencers on food purchasing decisions for decades. More recently concern about the impact food choices have on our planet have become increasingly prominent. These factors reflect in consumer expectations which are also continuing to evolve, making it challenging for food manufacturers to keep pace. Consumers’ definition of ‘healthy’ isn’t simply about nutritional content and certain types of ingredients – While these factors still play a strong part, they are accompanied by qualities like ‘transparency’, ‘sustainability’, the ‘ethical’ nature of a product or its’ manufacturing process, and more.
Similarly, for a food to be ‘good for the planet’ or free from negative impacts on the planet, measurements around it being organic, or coming in recycled packaging don’t provide the complete answer. Concepts like water and energy conservation, regenerative agriculture, positive animal husbandry and biodiversity all have implications. By keeping pace with these developments and being able to anticipate further ones, both ingredient and food manufacturers position themselves in a space much stronger for the future.
At Taranaki Bio Extracts we recently revisited our values as a business and completed a brand refresh – In this changing consumer-driven landscape we wanted to align the operations of our business with who we believe we are as a business in 2022. We found a lot of the values we held as individuals and as a company were reflected in the values that both our customers’ and their customers were using when making their buying decisions. It was about being transparent so these similarities could be understood and lead us to like-minded customers. One approach we’ve taken is engaging with the UN Sustainability Development Goals – This has given us a way to connect based on our company strategy and sustainability drives for the future. To learn more visit Our Sustainability Commitment | Taranaki Bio Extracts
We were also pleased to recognise some synergies with New Zealand Trade & Enterprise research recently carried out (Kantar Consumer Research Fieldwork 2021). Findings showed a series of qualities and new world values that resonate with American consumers as prime purchase drivers – a range that we at Taranaki Bio Extracts also resonate with;
Tasty: these purchase decisions are driven by the taste or flavour of a product or brand
Trusted Brand: Trust in the brand is driving these purchase decisions
Safe Product: Having belief in the safety of the product or brand is driving decision making
Healthy: Making a healthy choice is what drives these purchase decisions
Fresh: These choices are based on how fresh the product or brand looks
Ethical: These purchase decisions are driven by ethical, environmental or social issues
On Trend: These purchase decisions are driven by environmental, organic trends and how this makes consumers appear to others.
For us aligning closely with the values and purchase drivers of our customers and their consumers, alongside developing our views and sharing these leads us forward – it’s key to keeping our brand real and relevant.
Reference: Food and Drink Business 2019
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