The UL Product Mindset 2013 offers important insight into the opinions of manufacturers and consumers on the importance of product quality. Though both groups rank quality as their #1 priority on a scale of 1-7, the report shows a gap between consumer priority and consumer confidence in product quality.
In fact, 51% of the consumers participating in the report believe that manufacturers use the lowest cost materials for their products, regardless of quality. “Quality is absolutely number one for the majority of product formulators and manufacturers,” comments food industry expert Jill Frank. “Yes, there are circumstances in which ingredients are subject to commodity fluctuations, and manufacturers use lower cost ingredients to maintain a price point that is acceptable to consumers. But this is rarely the desired path to getting a product to market.”
How can formulators use this information to their benefit? According to Prospector Personal Care Industry Expert Priscilla Taylor, this gap between consumer priority and consumer confidence represents an opportunity for manufacturers to not only make efforts to use high quality raw materials, but to take greater measures in communicating the use and value of these materials to consumers.
Where does quality fall in your list of priorities while developing products, and how do economic fluctuations impact this? Do you think consumer perception of quality is correct? Click here to get involved in the discussion!
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About The Product Mindset 2013
The Product Mindset 2013 is an annual study created to better understand manufacturer and consumer concerns and priorities about the products they make, sell, buy and use. Using data collected from 1,521 manufacturers and 1,528 consumers from the world’s top 10 largest economies, UL is able to offer compelling data that defines the collective mindset. The full report can be downloaded in detail at www.productmindset.ul.com.
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