With a burgeoning organic food category across Asia-Pacific, retailers are scrambling to hop on board.
In Hong Kong, ThreeSixty, billed as the territory's first dedicated organic produce chain, due to open a Media's press time, will be a litmus test of not only the concept, but the category's potential.
In the UK, regarded as one of the organic food category's more developed markets, consumers spent 1.6 billion (US$3 billion) on organic food and drink last year, according to a recent report from the UK's Soil Association.
And consider this: a global ACNielsen survey covering more than 20,000 consumers from 38 countries, found that Asia-Pacific buyers actually led the global average when it came to purchasing regularity.
When it came to those who regularly purchase organic fruit, the region scored 31 per cent, three points above the global average of 28 per cent, and comfortably ahead of Europe (25 per cent) and North America (17 per cent), with a similar margin for regular purchases of organic vegetables.
Grocery retailers across the region have responded by carrying an increasing inventory of organic produce, although many suspect the category's penetration regionally is still very much in its infancy.
But despite the potential suggested by the numbers globally and regionally, the category is facing some very real obstacles, led notably, by price.
Organic food, by virtue of the production process, costs more, leaving it generally out of reach for all but the wealthiest of consumers. According to ThreeSixty's outgoing marketing and development director Mark Garwood, a more strategic approach to marketing can gradually overcome the pricing issue, by employing a raft of educational communication that talks up the category's benefits.
Garwood notes that because of the category's inherent higher prices, marketing initially to the masses is not an option. Instead, ThreeSixty has embarked on a marcomms drive specifically focused on white collar, family-oriented Chinese consumers and expatriates, in a bid to build a core target audience.
"It's a new way of eating and a new lifestyle, so we're telling people they don't have to be part of a big movement - what you do everyday can make a difference,"he says. "It's a niche at the moment, but there is growing demand. If it grows in the way that we see it, it's a real starting point."
But key to the category's acceptance notes Interbrand Asia-Pacific executive director Cliff Nichols, is overcoming consumer cynicism.
For years, Nichols notes, consumers have purchased free-range chicken and eggs believing they were a healthier option, until it was revealed it simply meant the animals were kept in slightly bigger hutches.
Leveraging a scientific definition of organic as a marketing tactic is something that the UK industry in particular has done well he says, leading to real growth across the board. "In this region, organic has all that emotional content, but what it is lacking is specific elements of what it means. The FMCG category is full of people making grand promises about undifferentiated products, and as we saw with 'free range' it's not as necessarily true as the statement suggests."
But he was quick to point out that overall, there was plenty of potential for the market in Asia-Pacific. "If Asia grows as much as the world thinks it can, if standards of living improve as much as we think they can,we will definitely see increased relevance for the organic category."
"The challenge then becomes how it is marketed and developed, without being abused."
