Capgemini research - retail technology key to tackling food waste challenge
Consumer consciousness around food waste has more than doubled in the past two years as rising food prices, supply chain challenges, the Covid-19 pandemic, and sustainability concerns are impacting shopper behaviour.
Today, 72% of consumers are aware of their food wastage as compared to only 33% before 2020, according to Capgemini Research Institute research which surveyed 10,000 shoppers and executives from 1,000 large organisations in food manufacturing and retail.
There has been an 80% year-on-year growth in social media searches for methods to increase the life of food items. Cost savings (56%), concerns around world hunger (52%) and climate change (51%) are the primary reasons contributing to this.
Although consumers admit their own culpability, with 60% feeling guilty about wasting food, they also perceive that retailers and food manufacturers aren’t doing enough to help them curb this issue.
61% want brands and retailers to do more to help them tackle food waste and 57% are disappointed as they feel that businesses don’t care enough about the issue.
60% of organisations say that they help consumers understand terms like “best before”, “consume by” and “expiry date”, but only 39% of consumers are satisfied that this information is clear enough.
Consumers want organisations to do more in areas such as product innovation, packaging, clarity of date labels, and consumer education. For instance, they would like to see digital labels (QR codes, etc.) that will provide them with more information on the product’s journey and quality.
In fact, they feel they are too often left to their own devices regarding reducing food waste.
When it comes to increasing food longevity at home, 67% are going to third-party sources for information (friends, family, influencers, and social media) with only a third getting information from packaging, commercials or campaigns run by food manufacturers and retailers.
91% of consumers say that they are willing to buy from brands and retailers that disclose information on their food waste, while 58% will increase their spend with companies taking active steps to manage food waste.
“The increased awareness amongst consumers and the initiatives being taken by businesses to tackle food waste is a positive step forward,” says Tim Bridges, Global Sector Lead, Consumer Products, Retail and Distribution at Capgemini.
“With the help of technology, organisations can track and assess food waste at every stage of the food value chain to enable action at the right time, while also engaging with their consumers by inculcating waste avoiding behaviours and making them an active participant in waste reduction.”
“An agile, intelligent supply chain can also enable an effective collaboration across the value chain to create a sustainable and future-ready ecosystem.”
The research recommends a three-pronged approach to tackle food waste, backed by technology:
Engage consumers and employees in food waste management initiatives: Organisations can use technology to inculcate waste-avoiding behaviours among consumers, bolster awareness initiatives and incentivise employees to encourage proactive behaviour.
Collaborate across the value chain: Implementing and scaling technology solutions such as data driven demand forecasting, temperature monitoring, inventory management can help organisations maximise impact.
An agile and intelligent supply chain with data sharing ecosystems, increased collaboration across the wider ecosystem can help accelerate change.
Set, monitor, and report food waste related metrics: Organisations need to set up goals, measure progress, and have the right governance structure in place to understand root causes of waste, and course correction mechanisms.
With the right use of technology, they can track, assess, report, and reduce food waste across the value chain.
