Blue Impact is ensuring your place on shelves

Conscientious consumers prioritise products that align with their values and personal beliefs. Sustainability has quickly risen to the top of many consumers’ list of priorities and producers have responded with an influx of products that are marketed as sustainable. Therefore, it is more important than ever for you to be able to prove that your product is truly sustainability and differentiate your product in the market.

It is common for companies to seek third party validation to help build consumers’ trust, but we are seeing many certification programmes implement stricter regulations on sustainability criteria. Blue Impact diets have adaptive parameters that allow you to measure and demonstrate your product’s sustainability, helping build trust with consumers and retailers, demonstrating the feed’s sustainability to third party certification organisations and ensuring your place on the retailers’ shelves for years to come.

Retailers as product critics and co-creators

The digital revolution has created a rapidly changing business environment. Consumers are increasingly favouring products that align with their own values and beliefs. Producers must be quick to adapt, utilise new technologies and demonstrate that their products align with consumers beliefs. Retailers are no exception, as they always act to quickly adapt to consumer demand. Sustainability ranks at the top of many consumers’ priorities, with a recent study showing that searches for sustainable goods have increased globally by over 70 percent since 2016. Retailers correspondingly choose to stock sustainable products on their shelves, as every product reflects on their brand. As consumers become even more environmentally literate, retailers will continue to prioritise products that are shown to be sustainable to appeal to this growing wave of environmentally conscious consumers.

Just like consumers, retailers should be viewed as product critics and co-creators. Retailers can have a significant impact on sustainability efforts, leveraging their position within the value chain to prioritise and create demand for sustainable products. Additionally, we are now seeing economic benefits to retailers who prioritise sustainability. In a recent study by Haller, Lee & Cheung, six of ten consumers say they are willing to change their buying habits to reduce negative environmental impacts, and of consumers who consider sustainability important, 70 percent are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products. Blue Impact allows salmon farmers to demonstrate their products’ sustainability to retailers and therefore helps them secure shelf space.

Differentiate your products

As demand for sustainable products continues to increase, businesses are putting more resources into developing sustainable products and promoting themselves as environmentally conscious. In this flood of products hitting the market, it is more important than ever to differentiate your products and have the means to prove to retailers and consumers that your products are sustainable. Building trust through evidence is essential. In a report by Haller, Lee & Cheung looking into key market drivers, 84 percent of consumers indicate that brand trust is important when selecting products. Additionally, regardless of how much consumers trust a brand, most consumers will still do extensive research before deciding on a purchase. In this process, consumers will e.g., evaluate where ingredients are sourced from, the producing companies’ policies and how they deliver on environmental, social and economic benefits.

With consumers’ willingness to research the products they are purchasing, having the means to demonstrate your products’ sustainability and deliver on multiple aspects of sustainability is important. Blue Impact’s “no compromises” approach to sustainability will appeal to the consumer trends we are seeing. Blue Impact delivers on multiple aspects of sustainability while providing the tools to quantify these benefits to consumers and retailers. However, due to the limited availability of the resources necessary to produce Blue Impact feeds, BioMar cannot offer the diet to every aquaculture customer. This is a great opportunity for you to become a first mover and offer an exclusive, truly sustainable diet, making you stand out to retailers and environmentally conscious consumers.

Stricter rules for accreditation schemes

One of the most effective ways to build trust and demonstrate your products’ sustainability is through third party validation. In aquaculture, third party certifications are often acquired through organisations such as Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) and Global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). However, both aquaculture and our understating of sustainability is constantly evolving. As new information becomes available, accreditation schemes look to adapt, implementing new, stricter regulations and requirements to make sure farms are implementing best practices and driving industry-wide sustainable development.   

For example, we have recently seen one accreditation scheme change its feed regulations. With aquafeed increasing the usage of agricultural products, the organisation considers aquafeed inseparable from the negative impacts created by agriculture. Therefore, they have updated the sourcing policy for raw materials, focusing on combating biodiversity loss on land.

The adaptive parameters used in Blue Impact feeds will evolve over time, ensuring that they remain at the forefront of sustainable feed development. Using Blue Impact diets is a terrific way to stay ahead of the curve and continually meet any new standards and regulations placed on feed from third party organisations.

Moving forward

Moving forward, retailers will continue to prioritise sustainable products to appeal to consumer demand. The market will be saturated by products marketed as sustainable, making it essential to be able to prove your products’ sustainability to consumers. Certifications represent an excellent opportunity to do so but will continually evolve and be subject to stricter standards and regulations. Blue Impact feeds offer you the opportunity to demonstrate your products’ sustainability and meet feed standards and regulations through third party validation. By accepting our offer to try this diet, you get the opportunity to differentiate your products, demonstrate their sustainability and ensure your place on the retailers’ shelves.