FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
Nancy White
The Natural Marketing Institute
215.513.7300 ext. 225
Nancy.White@NMIsolutions.com

39% of U.S. Consumers Choose Organic

Harleysville, Pa. (November 18, 2002) -- The 2002 Organic Consumer Trends Report (OCTR), jointly produced by The Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) and SPINS, reports that 39% of the U.S. population --- over 40 million households --- uses organic products, and that this robust household penetration accounts for $6.9 billion in U.S. food and beverage organic sales.

The OCTR includes in-depth analysis of consumer attitudes and purchase behaviors along with actual dollar and unit sales of over 40 organic product categories and 100+ sub-segments. This integration is what makes the OCTR such an invaluable resource for companies defining, targeting, and communicating to consumer segments in the organic marketplace.

The importance of organic will continue to grow based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's October 21st regulation for organic food and beverage certification and labeling. Now it will be more important than ever for marketers to understand and effectively target this dynamic consumer. With this in mind, the OCTR identifies a range of organic consumer segments, and compares key attitudes, behaviors, and purchase patterns of each. Three U.S. organic segments are defined as follows:

1. The Organic Integrated Group: Makes up 37% of all organic users, holds very strong attitudes toward organics, and consumes organics more than once a day.

2. The Organic Middle Group: Representing 39% of all organic users, also has very strong attitudes toward organics, and consumes organics at least weekly.

3. The Organic Fringe Group: Comprises 24% of all organic users, with strong attitudes toward organics, and eats organics occasionally.

Whereby the organic food and beverage market continues its double-digit growth (compared to the stagnated conventional food and beverage market), there are challenges to entering the marketplace. According to NMI Managing Partner Steve French, "There is some fundamental misunderstanding of what makes a product organic. Across a variety of criteria regarding the understanding of organics, 48% of consumers seem to have a firm grasp of the true meaning. Additionally, and much more concerning, is the low recognition of the perceived product benefits that are derived from organics, including taste, nutritional benefits, and others. Although the recent USDA label initiatives will provide awareness and credibility to the industry, marketers will need to take the responsibility of communicating these key benefits of organic products to consumers."

" The importance of branded packaged goods to the organic industry is increasing each year" states Jeff Nibler, SPINS' Director of Consulting Services. "In 2001, branded packaged goods, including packaged produce, owned a larger share of organic retail sales than non-packaged produce. This indicates the key educational role consumer marketers are playing in the industry today, and underscores the importance of understanding consumer drivers and crafting effective messages based on those drivers."

Both The Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) and SPINS have been tracking trends within the organic marketplace for many years. Based on a NMI study of over 2,000 general population consumer households and supermarket scanner data from SPINS, the OCTR is 150+ pages packed with analysis of consumer attitudes, purchase behaviors, demographics, and category sales.

NMI is a leading business consulting and market research firm specialized in the world of health and wellness and can be found on the web at: www.NMIsolutions.com.

SPINS is the leading provider of business information and services to the natural products industry.

This report is available for $3,995 by calling Joe Marra at NMI (215-513-7300 ext 222) or Amy Jacobsen at SPINS (415-957-4410).

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Executive quotes; marketplace insight and data customizations are also available to all media. For any further information please contact Nancy White at 215-513-7300 ext 225.

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