1. Making the most of our access to dunnhumby (Tesco Clubcard) data
Professor Andrew Fearne
The rise and fall of carbon labelling: A case study of Tesco’s experience and lessons for CSR communication
Making the most of our access to dunnhumby (Tesco Clubcard) data
Claire May
(University of Lincoln)
&
Andrew Fearne
(University of East Anglia)

2. Presentation Outline
Conclusions
Context
Research Project
Results

3. Conclusions

4. Behavioural Change Point of Purchase (Behaviour)
Change behaviour
Point of Purchase (Behaviour)
Attitude – Intention - Behaviour Gap
Pre-store (Intensions)
Change attitudes
Necessary but not sufficient
Increase Knowledge AF
Raise Awareness

5. Behavioural Change Assumptions are the mother of all f*** ups!
Looking at the market in aggregate and from afar leaves us ‘blind’ to the interface between ‘people’ and ‘products’ where it matters most… at the point of purchase

6. Behavioural Change
Labelling of sustainability (credence) attributes most likely to have greatest impact upstream (certification) but don’t expect consumers to lead the way, despite their reported willingness to pay!
Sustainabilty (whatever it means) is an aspirational state that the market will fail to deliver – regulation is inevitable but will be too little too late so…

7. Behavioural Change
We are all doomed!

8. Context

9. Research Context – Sustainability
Social
Environmental
Economic
FOOD
Solutions:
Holistic
Multi-disciplinary
Cross-functional
Multiple stakeholders
Challenges:
Complex
Dynamic
Universal

10. When good intentions go astray (Halkier, 1999)
Danish “Demand” for Organics 30%
Actual sales 4 – 5%

11. When good intentions go astray (Bird & Hughes, 1997)
23% UK consumers “ethical”
Sales of Fair Trade c. 3%

12. When good intentions go astray (O’Rourke, 2004)
86% US consumers willing to pay more for ethical goods
US Market share ethical goods 3.5%)
US Market share of NIKE…..43%

13. Type 1 and Type 2 thinking (Kahneman, 2011)
Most buying decisions for FMCG (low involvement) are driven by Type 1 thinking
– fast – instinctive – emotional
Type 2 thinking more relevant for capital/investment goods (high involvement)
– slower – more deliberate – more rational
Despite the billions of dollars spent on branded advertising to build customer loyalty, the Grocery Marketing Association of America (GMA) estimates that 70% of purchase decisions are made at the point of purchase Mo

14. Research Project

15. Case study – Tesco Carbon label
Tesco was the first major retailer to trial carbon labelling as a mechanism for enabling shoppers to make more informed choices
Their carbon labelling initiative was an integral part of their CSR activities and positioned Tesco at the forefront of “a new revolution in green consumption” (Leahy 2007).
In April 2008 Tesco launched their initial trial using the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Reduction Label on twenty products from four categories (washing detergent, orange juice, light bulbs and potatoes).
More products and other product categories (milk, kitchen towel and toilet tissue) were subsequently added before the quiet announcement came, in 2012, that Tesco would not be continuing with the project, claiming the lack of consumer uptake and the lack of interest from other retailers as the major reasons behind their decision (Vaughan 2012)

16. Carbon Label Project (2008 – 2011)
PhD Studentship - Sponsored by Defra
Objective - Identify ways in which supermarkets can help shoppers make more sustainable purchasing decisions
Focus - Carbon Labelling
Role of pre-store and in-store situational factors
Mixed Methods
Stage 1 - identify reasons for current behaviour and barriers to behaviour change (Focus groups)
Stage 2 - experimental Intervention (pre-store and in-store)
Stage 3 - determine impact on attitudes and perceptions (in-store shopper interviews, parent survey, teacher interviews) and behaviour (dunnhumby data)

17. Conceptual Framework - Path to Purchase
Important but long-term – not the focus of this research
INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS
e.g. attitudes, values, beliefs
PRE-STORE SITUATIONAL FACTORS
e.g. Awareness, knowledge, meal occasion,
shopping mission
NON
PURCHASE
MOTIVATION
ABILITY
OPPORTUNITY
INTENTION
BEHAVIOUR
PURCHASE
IN-STORE SITUATIONAL FACTORS
e.g. marketing (packaging, labelling, promotions),
merchandising (availability, POS)
Some scope for intervention – raise awareness and increase knowledge
Most scope for intervention -behaviour change 17

18. Carbon Label Project - Interventions
Focus on Young Families
Amenable to change – influence from children, higher level of ‘involvement’ in food purchasing decisions
Diverse range of constraints – budget, time, meal occasions, shopping missions
Pre-store - Work with primary schools to raise awareness (parents and children)
In-store – Raise (shopper) awareness and facilitate low carbon purchases
Stores selected were geographically dispersed (Newcastle, York, Southport, Blackpool, New Malden, Borehamwood, Poole, Slough) the highest in terms of footfall (young families) and customer penetration (carbon labelled products)

19. Pre-store Intervention : Carbon Footprint Week
All primary schools within a 5 mile radius of the selected Tesco stores were contacted via letter/phone
270+ Education Packs sent out
Age appropriate inter-curricular lesson plans and related materials linked to climate change, carbon footprints and carbon labelling
Homework Challenge – to go to a specified Tesco store with a parent
Display Competition - cash incentives
15 (6%) schools known to have participated

20. Carbon Label Project - in-store Interventions
Tesco staff wearing green carbon label t-shirts and handing out leaflets

21. Carbon Label Project - In-store Interventions
Shelf talkers

22. Carbon label Project - In-store Interventions
Carbon footprint floor sticker in entrance

23. Results

24. Carbon Label Project - Evaluation (pre-store)
Parents (90 responses to on-line survey)
70% claimed their awareness of carbon labelling increased as a result of their child’s involvement in Carbon Footprint Week
54% claimed their understanding of carbon labelling increased as a result of their child’s involvement in Carbon Footprint Week
28% claimed that they had purchased low carbon products as a direct result of their child’s involvement in Carbon Footprint Week
13% claimed they would be ‘extremely likely’ to purchase carbon products in the future

25. Carbon Label Project - Evaluation (in-store)
Shoppers (786 respondents to store exit survey)
Without prompting, 32% of respondents noticed something different in the store, of which 19% noticed the leaflets, 10% noticed the green T-shirts but only 1 respondent noticed the shelf talkers
When prompted, 17% claimed to have noticed more information in store about carbon footprint labels, of which the majority noticed the leaflets (nobody mentioned the shelf talkers)
20% claimed awareness of Tesco’s carbon labelling, the majority of whom made an association with environmental issues
10% claimed they had previously made a purchase decision specifically due to the information on the carbon label
28% said that carbon labelling will definitely influence their purchasing behaviour in future (53% said it would possibly do so)

26. Carbon Label Project - Evaluation (behaviour)
Analysis of dunnhumby data revealed no significant impact on the sales of carbon labelled products (or lower rating variants thereof)
Source: dunnhumby (2010)

27. THANK YOU! Andrew FEARNE Professor of Value Chain Management
Norwich Business School
University of East Anglia
Norwich Research Park
Norwich
NR4 7TJ  