Australia's Food and Grocery Sustainability Benchmark 2022

Between March and July 2022, Glow collected over 120,000 consumer opinions on the social and environmental responsibility of 118 Australian food and grocery brands. The result is the first nationally representative benchmark of its kind for the Australian F&G market.

The headline: F&G ranks second of 21 Australian industries, behind only pharmacies. Social media platforms rank last.

The industry average SRS sits at 38. Leading brands, those scoring above 45, are performing 62% above average in the case of the current leader. The distribution is not even: a small cluster of brands has pulled significantly ahead by making ESG commitments visible, consistent, and specific.

1 in 4 Australian consumers switched food and grocery brands in the past 12 months based on ESG credentials. For Gen Z and Millennials, that switching rate runs at 2.5 times the rate of older generations, a leading indicator of where the aggregate market is heading as those cohorts gain purchasing power.

The industry’s performance is strong relative to other sectors, but F&G brands outperform the all-industry average by more than 10% across every single ESG driver measured. That consistent outperformance suggests the category sets a high consumer expectation baseline, which means the cost of underperformance is proportionally higher.

The top drivers in Australian F&G are environmental and governance: reducing plastic and managing waste, respecting and protecting natural resources, doing the right thing, and taking care of supplier welfare. This ordering differs from other markets: the driver mix is not universal, which is why market-specific benchmarks matter.

The data is from a nationally representative sample, margin of error below 3% for most brands. For brands in categories with lower awareness or recently added to the program, the margin can run to 10%.

The benchmark will be updated as new data is collected. Market position is not static.