8th & Walton’s Terry Clear explains that consumers are demanding more transparency about ingredients and nutrition. He encourages suppliers, especially in private label, to go beyond minimum FDA label requirements by leaning into clearer, front-of-pack communication.
Lainie: There has been a lot of calls on the part of consumers for transparency in labeling around ingredients and nutrition. How should suppliers adapt to these demands, particularly now when we’re looking at private labeling?
Terry: I think suppliers should lean into even more transparency, because there’s a significant shopper base out there that is very interested in all of the components that go into your product, especially if it’s a food product. So you need to do more than just meet the minimum FDA label requirements. If you have positive benefits about the components or the elements that make up your product, you need to convey that to the consumer so that, when they’re looking at the shelf, they see your product as a clear advantage over some other product, without requiring them to pick it up and turn it over and look at the FDA label on the back and compare it to somebody else’s. Put it right out in front: how your product is superior to the other products on the shelf.
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Lainie: And you mean things like organic or biodynamic or high in fiber or gluten-free, things like that?
Terry: Yes. Whatever it is that you can legitimately claim is a health benefit or a benefit to a particular consumer. Some people have medical reasons why they need a particular element in their product or need something to be excluded, and for others, there are general health benefits. You need to make those attributes readily apparent to the shopper, not something they have to search for.
