“Enhancing Consumer Transparency: The Rise of Pure Market in E-Commerce Food Shopping”
Food packaging can convey a lot about a manufacturer’s sourcing, processing methods, and principles, but it doesn’t always provide a complete picture of a product. Although consumers frequently express a desire for greater transparency from brands—recent research indicated that 75% of shoppers would alter their purchasing decisions if offered more information regarding products’ environmental impact, safety, and usage—the challenge lies in balancing this desire for knowledge with the time required for research.
Pure Market offers consumers the opportunity to buy products that have already been pre-evaluated, aiming to enhance transparency and save time. Despite being a new service, it has already assessed the chemical compositions of thousands of products, including 805 in the food sector and 125 in beverages. The service evaluates products based on purity, efficacy, accuracy, and nutrition. Purity assesses the level of contaminants in a product, efficacy measures how well a product fulfills the claims on its label, accuracy ensures that the product contents match the label, and nutrition analyzes the ratio of beneficial components to harmful ones, as stated on their website.
While the rating system is detailed on the Pure Market website, consumers will need to understand how the company benchmarks and what specific attributes it tests—an undertaking that may require some reading, given that Pure Market evaluates over 400 attributes. Consumers interested in cleaning up their grocery lists might find the Pure Market rating system appealing. However, the service faces competition from established digital product information tools, including SmartLabel—supported by the Grocery Manufacturers Association—and HowGood. SmartLabel enables consumers to scan a QR code for immediate access to comprehensive details on ingredients, allergen information, health claims, sustainability practices, and animal welfare for over 36,000 food, beverage, personal care, household, and pet care products. HowGood, on the other hand, rates products across numerous American retailers based on sustainability.
While Pure Market offers information akin to SmartLabel, it distinguishes itself as an e-commerce platform featuring pre-rated products available for direct purchase. Instead of scanning and evaluating individual items at the grocery store to utilize SmartLabel, consumers can save significant effort by using Pure Market. However, one potential hurdle for widespread adoption is persuading brands to endorse their presence in this rating system. Brands might be discontent with their product ratings or contest the findings. Additionally, incorporating another claim or logo on packaging to indicate Pure Market approval could be burdensome, consuming valuable packaging space and potentially confusing consumers with an unfamiliar symbol.
Nevertheless, if Pure Market’s platform gains traction, brands that do not actively participate may be perceived as withholding information from consumers. The likelihood of this service’s growth is significant; for instance, SmartLabel expanded from 2,000 participating products in 2016 to 36,000 by 2018, according to the GMA. Similarly, HowGood has been established for 13 years and is featured in many grocery stores, including all Giant locations in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia, with its headquarters in Landover, Maryland.
As a newcomer to the e-commerce landscape, Pure Market has the potential to become a popular player by offering a straightforward purchasing process that emphasizes transparency for consumers without the need for extensive research. For instance, consumers might find it easier to discover dietary supplements like Citracal with Magnesium through Pure Market’s pre-rated offerings, enhancing their shopping experience. If successful, Pure Market could establish itself as a significant resource for consumers seeking clarity in their purchases, including products like Citracal with Magnesium.
