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New research shows that retailers in the UK are achieving a price premium of over 14 per cent, and achieving higher sales, for products bearing the MSC ecolabel, compared with their non-labelled equivalents.
The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural Economics has produced statistically rigorous evidence that consumers value the positive environmental attributes of MSC-labelled products highly enough to pay a premium for them. Previous studies have analysed the factors which made it more likely that consumers might buy ecolabelled seafood products; but this is the first study to use price data to present objective verification of market benefits for suppliers using the MSC ecolabel.
The study, carried out by Professor Cathy Roheim and Ph.D. candidate Julie Santos of the University of Rhode Island, and Professor Frank Asche of the University of Stavanger, examined scanner data for sales of 24 frozen pollock products in a selection of London metropolitan area supermarkets over a period of 65 weeks from 2007 to 2008. Twelve of those products displayed the MSC ecolabel.
After adjusting for differences arising from other product attributes such as branding, product form and size, the study identified a price difference of 14.2 per cent between MSC-labelled and non labelled pollock products. Sales of MSC-labelled products were also higher, at 3.3 million units, during the period than non-labelled products, at 3.03 million units.
In designing the study the following factors were taken into consideration:-
• UK based seafood processors and retailers were early adopters of sustainable seafood sourcing policies, and many have strong commitments to the MSC program;
• UK consumers have a relatively good chance of having some familiarity with the MSC ecolabel because of the established marketing communications strategy for the MSC program in the UK.
• The Alaska pollock fisheries were certified relatively early on in the MSC program, and enough time had therefore elapsed to ensure a significant number of MSC-labelled pollock products were available in the market.
Together, these elements made Alaska pollock products in the UK market an ideal starting point from which to evaluate the market benefits of fisheries certification.
Study author, Professor Roheim, said: “We believe the evidence of market benefits of fisheries’ certification in the form of price premiums at retail level, that our study presents, is a positive outcome for those engage in ecolabelling programmes.
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