About 2,000 consumers in the UK surveyed in March 2014 want premium chocolate, fine ingredients and products that are positioned around ethical luxury.
The US Canadean Consumer research finds that survey respondents are less concerned about price.
Respondents are most likely to trade-up on chocolate when it comes to buying indulgent groceries.
About of 38% of them say they buy premium either “regularly” or “all the time”.
In comparison, 35% said the same about coffee, 33% about alcoholic beverages and 32% about ice cream.
This shows that even as consumers continue to juggle daily finances and manage household budgets, they are willing to regularly trade-up on indulgent groceries such as chocolate.
Ethical, luxury chocolate
Consumers were found to determine a product’s premium value as a result of its ingredients rather than the price.
About 58% of respondents regard a product as superior to an “everyday” item if it promotes the use of the finest ingredients, which is higher than those who validate a product’s premium value based on “if it’s expensive” (38%).
When it comes to packaging, consumers are most likely to consider a product as premium if it has “stand out appeal” (44%) and comes in environmentally-friendly packaging (37%).
The survey finds that consumers tend to associate fairtrade and organic ingredients with traits such as purer formulation and artisanal production and as such, superior quality.
This suggests that manufacturers have positioned products around ethical luxury.
The use of environmentally-friendly packaging can create a halo effect in the eye of the customer, particularly if this extends to the formulation of the product.
“To encourage trading-up buying behavior, manufacturers need to push the concept of ethical luxury in categories such as chocolate and coffee to make consumers feel that they are getting a real treat over everyday items,” says Research manager Michael Hughes.
