Scottish Government

Appendix IV Organic purchasing behaviour in Scotland

Taylor Nelson Sofres
5 ^th July 2005

The Soil Association

Prepared by:

TNS System Three
19 Atholl Crescent
Edinburgh, EH3 8HQ
Telephone: 0131 656 4000
Facsimile: 0131 656 4001
e-mail: enquiries@tns-global.com
114664

Contents

A. Background
B. Main findings - Omnibus research
B.1 Organic purchasing behaviour nowadays
B.2 Factors which deter from buying Scottish organic goods
C. Superpanel results
C.1 Expenditure
C.2 Profile of purchasers
D. Data tabulations
E. Questionnaire

Background

TNS System Three was commissioned by The Soil Association to conduct research on the organic purchasing behaviour of the general Scottish population. In addition, to add context to the results, TNS Superpanel provided background information on organic expenditure as well as demographic profiles of organic purchasers.

The TNS System Three Omnibus survey, Scottish Opinion Survey ( SOS), was used as a means of data collection for the general population survey. A sample of 1054 adults aged 16 and over was interviewed in-home in 42 constituencies throughout Scotland over the period 21 ^st - 27 ^th April 2005.

To ensure that the sample was representative of the adult population in terms of age, sex and class, it was weighted to match population estimates from the National Readership Survey of January - December 2004. The sample profile, both unweighted and weighted, is shown below.

Table A.1 - Sample Profile
Base: 1054 (%)

A copy of the questionnaire used in the survey is appended.

Main findings - Omnibus research

The main findings from the Omnibus research are shown in the following paragraphs. Full data tabulations are appended.

B.1 Organic purchasing behaviour nowadays

Respondents were firstly asked whether they buy organic food or drink nowadays. At the total level, 37% of respondents claimed to do so. There were however differing patterns amongst some of the demographic sub groups:

• females were more likely to purchase organic food or drink than males (40% vs 33%);
• likelihood to purchase organic food or drink declined with socio-economic status social classes (55% of ABs, 37% of C1s, 30% of C2s and 28% of DEs);
• those aged 45-54 were most likely to purchase organic food or drink (47%) whilst those aged 16-24 were by far the least likely to do so (27%).

B.1.1 Whether actively look for Scottish organic food and drink to buy

All those who claimed to buy organic food or drink were then asked whether or not they actively seek Scottish organic food or drink and 42% of the sample responded positively. Demographically, those aged 45+ were more likely to look for these products than those aged 16-44 (50% vs 32%).

B.1.2 Where organic food purchased from

All those who claimed to buy organic food or drinks were then asked where they purchased these goods from. The results are shown in Table B.1.

Table B.1: Where organic goods purchased from
Base: All who buy organic food or drink nowadays

Almost universally, respondents claimed to purchase organic goods from supermarkets (93%). Around a fifth (19%) claimed to purchase organic goods from a farmers market and 11% from farm shops. Health food shops were the only other source mentioned by more than 2% of respondents (10%).

Given the almost universal usage of supermarkets amongst the sample, it is to be expected that levels of usage of this source were high across all the demographic sub groups. There were however some key differences within demographics on certain other sources. Farmers markets, for example, were much more widely used amongst those of social classes AB than any other group (35% vs 13% of those in classes C1C2 and 5% amongst DEs). Males were also more likely to purchase from farmers markets than females (24% vs 15%). Health food shops on the other hand were more likely to be used by females than males (13% vs 4%).

B.1.3 Where organic food purchased from most often

Having established where respondents purchased their organic food or drinks from, the respondents were then asked the range of outlets used for purchasing organic food or drink where they purchased from most often. Table B.2 shows the results on this measure.

Table B.2: Where organic goods purchased from
most often Base: All who buy organic food or drink nowadays

Not surprisingly given the widespread use of supermarkets to purchase organic goods from a supermarket, the vast majority (86%) also claimed to buy their goods from a supermarket most often. The next most often used source was farmers markets (4%), followed closely by farm shops and health food shops, each mentioned by 3%.

B.2 Factors which deter from buying Scottish organic goods

All those who claimed to buy organic food or drink nowadays were asked which, if any, factors deterred them from buying Scottish organic goods. The majority of respondents (60%) did not think there were any factors which deterred them although just under a quarter (23%) gave their reason as price/it is usually more expensive and 14% cited lack of availability. Very few other reasons were given.

All those who claimed to actively look to buy Scottish organic food or drink were asked what goods they buy most often. Table B.3 shows the results on this measure.

Table B.3: Scottish organic goods bought most often
Base: All who actively buy Scottish organic food or drink

Vegetables are the most widely purchased Scottish organic good, with four fifths of respondents (81%) claiming to buy them most often. Just over two fifths (41%) bought fruit, with similar numbers purchasing eggs (37%) and red meat (36%). Slightly fewer respondents, a quarter (25%) claimed to purchase poultry. A fifth of respondents (20%) bought milk and 17% bought fish. Differences are evident across different demographic groups but small base sizes make it difficult to interpret these findings meaningfully.

Superpanel results

The paragraphs that follow show Superpanel data, which is based on the 52 weeks ending 22 ^nd May 2005.

C.1 Expenditure

Overall, expenditure for the UK organic market for the 12 month period ending May '05 was £767,442,000, an increase of 12.1% on the previous 12 month period. In Scotland, expenditure for the 12 month period ending May '05 however was £41,466,000, an increase of only 3.9% on the previous 12 month period. The organic market across the UK as a whole is currently therefore growing at a faster rate than in Scotland specifically.

Table C.1 shows the share of organic expenditure by outlet both in the UK as a whole and in Scotland specifically.

Table C.1: Organic expenditure share by outlet- Scotland vs UK

Within the UK as a whole the organic retailer share is very different to the total grocery market share. Specifically there is high over trade in organic retail in Waitrose (18.6%) and a huge under trade in Asda (7.7%). Within Scotland however, other than Tesco's over trade within the organic market (38.6%), the organic retailer share is much closer to the total grocery share within Scotland.

C.2 Profile of purchasers

Table C.2 shows the organic expenditure share by demographic groups across both the UK and Scotland specifically.

Table C.2: Organic expenditure share by demographic group - Scotland vs UK

In both the UK as a whole and in Scotland specifically, most organic expenditure is made by those within the social classes ABC1. In Scotland, the level of expenditure amongst this group is slightly higher than in the UK as a whole (68% vs 63%).

The age group which accounts for most organic expenditure is those aged 45-64. Specifically, 36% of UK organic expenditure is made by those within this age group and 32% in Scotland.

There are a number of differences between the UK as a whole and Scotland in terms of how the household size impacts on organic purchasing behaviour. In Scotland almost a third (65%) of households with 2 or less members account for organic expenditure. In the UK, these households account for 60% of organic expenditure. Whilst almost a quarter of organic expenditure in the UK is made by those living in households with 4+ members (24%), in Scotland this level is only 15%.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the results shown in the previous paragraph, more expenditure is made by households with no children in Scotland (74%) than in the UK as a whole (70%).