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Consumers willing to pay more for natural colours and flavours – research

Consumers are happy to pay a premium of nearly 50 per cent for food and drink formulated with natural ingredients, according to a survey commissioned by Lycored.

In the online poll, researchers asked 506 US consumers whether they would be prepared to spend more on a product if it was made with natural flavourings and colours. In total, 88 per cent said they would.

This group of consumers was then told that the average flavoured milk beverage costs US$1.50 and they were asked how much they would be willing spend on a product if it was made with natural ingredients. On average, they said they would pay up to $2.20 – 47 per cent more.

The survey also found that the respondents preferred the appearance of natural colours even when they were not told they were natural. The researchers asked the respondents to express their visual perceptions of naturalness when presented with two flavoured milk drinks formulated with Lycored’s Tomat-O-Red natural colours and another made with Red 3, an artificial colorant. They were not informed which was which, and were asked to rate them on a 10 point scale in which 0 was ‘not at all natural’ and 10 was ‘extremely natural’.

Lycored’s Tomat-O-Red RP, which is designed for use in a wide range of foods and beverages, performed best, with consumers rating it the most natural looking. It was followed by Tomat-O-Red R, which was developed for products that contain oil and fat. The artificial colorant, Red 3, was ranked third most natural looking.

“Our research delivers two key learnings. Firstly, consumers are willing to pay significantly more for the reassurance that a product contains natural colours and flavours,” said Christiane Lippert, Head of Marketing (Food) at Lycored.

“Secondly, they find natural colours more appealing from a visual perspective. For food and beverage manufacturers there is a clear message here: using natural ingredients in formulations will resonate with shoppers and enable you to charge more for your products, boosting sales and profits.”

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