Improving the Organic Certification System
Workshop in Brussels, October 14, 2011
Organic Certification from the
Consumer Perspective
Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm
University of Kassel, Germany
Seventh Framework
Programme
Meike JanssenGrant
and Ulrich
Hamm No.
Agreement
207727
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
Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm
Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing
Labels of private organisations
Research objectives
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
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 1
Label 2
Label 3
Label 4
Organic
product
without logo
Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm
Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing
Mean willingness-to-pay (apples)
*
0%
20%
40%
60%
Reference point: Organic apples without a logo
* Turkey: Organic apples with the governmental logo
Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm
Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing
80%
WTP in % of
average
market price
Mean willingness-to-pay (eggs)
*
0%
20%
40%
60%
Reference point: Organic eggs without a logo
* Turkey: Organic eggs with the governmental logo
Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm
Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing
80%
WTP in % of
average
market price
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
Key results: Attitudes towards mandatory EU logo
CZ
It is a good idea to have
an EU-wide logo for
certified organic products.
DE
DK
IT
UK
It is a good idea to have
the same minimum
standards for organic
products all over the EU.
CZ
DE
DK
IT
UK
Share of participants who agreed with the statement
Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm
Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing
Key results: Attitudes towards mandatory EU logo
CZ
I have great trust in the
organic standards behind
an EU-wide organic logo.
DE
DK
IT
UK
CZ
I have great trust in the
inspection system behind
an EU-wide organic logo.
DE
DK
IT
UK
Share of participants who agreed with the statement
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:
www.certcost.org
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 %)
Gender
All
CH
CZ
DE
DK
IT
Female
66.4
61.3
65.8
65.7
71.1
Male
33.6
38.7
34.3
34.3
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm
Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing
TR
UK
70.4
59.5
70.9
28.9
29.6
40.5
29.1
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Sample description quantitative study
Age composition (in %)
Age group
All
CH
CZ
DE
DK
IT
18-44 yrs.
52.4
47.0
61.0
50.1
46.6
45-75 yrs.
47.6
53.0
39.0
49.9
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm
Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing
TR
UK
41.9
69.0
51.7
53.4
58.1
31.0
48.3
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Sample description quantitative study
Household size
All
CH
CZ
DE
DK
IT
UK
TR
Ø household size
2.7
2.4
2.8
2.5
2.5
2.8
2.7
3.0
Share of single
households in %
17.3
23.3
9.0
24.9
22.7
16.5
15.3
9.3
Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm
Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing
Sample description quantitative study
Level of education (in %)
Education
All
CH
CZ
DE
DK
IT
TR
UK
No qualification
1.9
0.3
2.8
0.0
3.0
0.0
2.0
5.6
10 years school
12.5
35.8
8.5
25.1
2.7
1.9
2.3
12.4
A level
27.3
30.0
49.3
33.2
32.4
11.1
21.3
15.8
College,
university
58.2
34.0
39.5
41.7
61.8
87.0
74.4
66.3
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0 100.0
100.0
Total
Meike Janssen and Ulrich Hamm
Dept. of Agricultural and Food Marketing