Organic between purpose and budget

The topics of sustainability and organic are trending more than ever

When ‘Biosiegel’, the German national seal for organic goods, was introduced 20 years ago, organic was an absolute niche market with a revenue of 2.7 billion euros.Since then, the market for organic food and ecological near-food products has been growing continuously. In 2020, German consumers spent nearly fifteen billion euros on organic goods.Organic FMCG has long since reached the large players in retail, which address the demand through an increasing variety of products and product groups, own organic brands and the cooperation with organ-izations such as Bioland, Naturland and WWF.The trend to buy organic is by no means earthshattering news – GfK has surveyed and analyzed the organic FMCG market for more than 20 years. But it has slowly moved into mainstream, accounting for an increasing share in our daily shopping baskets and has seen an extra push due to COVID-19.Hence it is worth taking a closer look at recent market developments, buying behavior and potential changes that might persist beyond 2021 and the pandemic. Considering the following:

Who are the organic shoppers and which product groups do they consume?

Who sets the trends and what are their expectations?

Where do we encounter the organic buyer – in supermarkets, at discounters or do they prefer other channels?

This executive summary is based on data from GfK’s Consumer Panel FMCG and Fresh Food, and the comprehensive study: “The Market for Organic Food – January to December 2020”, which is updated by GfK on a regular basis.