Ráðunautafundur - 15.02.2002, Page 230

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CONSUMER ATTITUDES TO MEAT
There are several factors influencing meat consumption, these are summarised in Figure 1. Some of them are
more important than others but all impact on consumers purchasing decision.
Factors infiuencing meat consumption
W orking
Technology women Informal meal
Less cooking í\ n _occasions
in schools
/

Health
Animal
welfare
V egetarianism
Fashion
Figure 1.
Family
structure
/iw
=i Value for money
Eating out
lncreased leisure
increased Retailing
competition
If we take working women as an example, over 26 million women work in Great Britain representing 46.1% of
the workforce. Nearly half of these are working part-time; this has an important impact on the ability of the
homemaker to prepare extensive and complicated meals for the rest of the family. Meat has to compete in this
type of environment. Family structures are changing with a steady growth of single households and the decline
of the larger family groups. This has an important impact on the eating habits of the family with a greater
emphasis on staggered eating times, TV meals and smaller portion size and inevitably much less social
interaction around the dining table. Meal occasions are becoming much more informal as peoples lifestyles
change, modem society is now becoming more of an eat and go mentality and snacking is on the increase. This
information is gleaned from various consumer reports and studies in the UK but we know from our close contact
with similar organisations in Europe that these trends are pan-European and not just confmed to the United
Kingdom.
The role of retailers is becoming more and more important as they have shown considerable growth over the last
10 years at the expense of the smaller independent operators. Competition between the retailers within
European countries and across Europe is increasing at a dramatic pace. In the UK we have recently seen the
arrival of Wal-Mart from America bringing a new approach of everyday low prices rather than the promotional
activity which is so common with many European retailers. The way in which we get our products, in
particular, meat to consumers is now becoming an important feature of modem retailing with pricing and
promotion becoming key elements of competition between retailers. The European supply chain model is
becoming more and more streamlined with bigger retailers competing firstly with each other, the number of
European processors declining, getting bigger and becoming more dedicated to their retail customers and of
necessity the alignment of producers groups/marketing groups with these large dedicated processors. Producers
at the start of the production chain are becoming faced with income pressures on their financial margins as
support from the European Union decreases and the element, which can be squeezed from the marketplace, is
under increased competition from other commodities.
Livestock production systems are a small part of the network of global factors influencing meat consumption.
However, the way in which we produce our meat creates issues in consumers minds relating to the way we keep
and manage our animals (welfare issues), the feeding practices we adopt (health issues) and the guarantees we
can provide on the way we do things (assurance). The importance of these factors varies from species to
species.
Above all it is the consumer environment (household size, working women etc.) and the retailing competition
which drives the need for value for money and convenience and this naturally impacts on price. It is also true
that as disposal income increases the percentage spent on food decreases and consumers spend much more on
leisure. Price moves down the list of absolute requirements for food products and some consumers can afford
the luxury of transferring their interest away from price and value for money to the way in which their food is
produced. In the UK for example disposable income rose at the rate of 13% per annum between 1989 and 1999
whilst food’s share of this has fallen fforn 19% to 17% in the same period