Co-creation platform "V Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" holds 4th "Food Sustainability Forum 2024"
2025.04.10
Press Releases
CCC MK HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.
-Can ethical products become consumer value?
CCC MK HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. (Head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yasunori Takahashi) is working on a co-creation platform called "V Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" (https://ethicalfoodlab.tsite.jp/) held the 4th Food Sustainability Forum 2024 on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
The Food Sustainability Forum 2024 aims to clarify the consumer value of ethical food by providing information that will lead to suggestions on how to create and communicate consumer value for ethical products based on analysis of V POINT purchasing data and survey results, as well as case studies from various companies. Starting with the first event on Friday, July 19, 2024, a total of four events have been held, with the participation of stakeholders from across industries and sectors, including food manufacturers, distributors, and tech companies.
About the 4th Food Sustainability Forum 2024
CCC MK HOLDINGS held the 4th Food Sustainability Forum 2024 in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo on Thursday, March 27th. A total of 27 people participated from AEON Retail Co., Ltd., Ethical Spirits Co., Ltd., Kyodo News Co., Ltd., Sagamiya Foods Co., Ltd., Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd., TNC Corporation, Nichirei Foods Co., Ltd., House Foods Group Inc., House Foods Corporation, Hitachi Solutions Ltd., Maruetsu Inc., Mizkan Holdings Inc., and Meiji Holdings Co., Ltd. (in alphabetical order).
First, Daisuke Yokota, General Manager of the Product Strategy Department, Merchandising Headquarters, AEON Retail Co., Ltd., gave a presentation titled "Sustainable Food Policies and Examples of Initiatives to Promote Ethical Consumption," in which he introduced the sustainability initiatives that the company has been carrying out for over 30 years, the development and future prospects of ethical products under its private brand "Topvalu," and examples of initiatives that involve the entire supply chain.
Next, under the title "Examples of Ethical Food Sales Initiatives," Chisato Yuasa from the V Everyone's Ethical Food Lab Secretariat and Ayano Takahashi from the Business Strategy Department, Business Management Headquarters, Maruetsu Inc. introduced a demonstration experiment in a physical store of ethical products selected based on the "Ethical Food Standards."
Finally, Nozomi Takita of CCC MK HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. gave a report on "Summary of the Food Sustainability Forum 2024 and future activity plans."
Sustainable food policies and examples of initiatives to promote ethical consumption
AEON Retail Co., Ltd.
Daisuke Yokota, General Manager of the Product Strategy Department, Merchandising Division
AEON Retail Co., Ltd. operates a general merchandising store business, offering not only food but also clothing, housing and leisure, health and beauty care, and other products closely related to customers' daily lives. For over 30 years, we have been working on environmental issues together with local communities, including tree planting activities carried out with the local community where we have stores and the "Bring Your Own Shopping Bag Campaign," which is now known as "My Bag."
Additionally, the private brand "Topvalu" has introduced an environmentally friendly mark (3R: reduce, reuse, recycle) and is promoting the "visualization" of ethical practices by publishing actual numbers on the dedicated page "Topvalu.net" to show the progress of initiatives. Furthermore, the FY2013 plan includes the expansion of environmentally friendly products, "resource circulation" by using recycled materials for all PET bottled beverages, and "visualization of CO2 emissions" by expanding the number of items included in the product CFP (carbon footprint) calculation, with the aim of further contributing to the sustainable lifestyles of our customers.
Among the 3,448 SKUs of Topvalu's environmentally friendly products, the dressing that uses the Spotto Eco Bottle has been well received, not only because the inner bag can be removed and used to the last drop, but also because the outer container can be easily recycled without washing. Furthermore, our expanding product lineup of "label-less products" has been receiving widespread praise from customers, who say that by eliminating the need to peel off labels, "sorting garbage is so much easier." These products are becoming a favorite among many people. I believe that being able to intuitively feel "good" about the convenience of a product is the "visualization" of ethical value. By focusing on the benefits from the customer's perspective, such as "it's easy" and "it saves time," and proposing a story that leads to a reduction in environmental impact, we believe that the establishment of ethical products will be promoted.
On the other hand, it is also true that it is difficult to communicate ethical initiatives. However, we must not give up on the challenge of communicating and making this information visible. To achieve this, I think it is important to clearly communicate the meaning of the word "ethical" to consumers throughout the entire supply chain. As an example, AEON launched the "Regional AEON Association" in 2008 with the aim of promoting cooperation between retailers and business partners, and during the environmental months of June and October last year, they held a campaign called "Choose. We held the "Now Connects to the Future" fair. We collaborated with manufacturers to promote environmentally friendly products, which were displayed at all AEON Group stores, with common POP displays, and special events at 12 stores nationwide. Our efforts to raise awareness of ethical values through face-to-face sales communication have attracted the attention of customers and many members of the media.
Going forward, under the group's shared vision of "creating a future where everyone's smiles bloom," the AEON Group will continue to expand its ethical initiatives to connect to the next generation in cooperation with various stakeholders in order to create a future society rich in nature.
Examples of initiatives related to the sale of ethical food
"V Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" Secretariat
Chisato Yuasa
In order to define ethical food in Japan, "V Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" brought together 12 experts on sustainability and food, as well as the UK's Ethical Consumer Research Association, and in March 2022 formulated the "Ethical Food Standards," which consist of corporate and food evaluations.
Subsequently, as an attempt to present ethical products to consumers, we launched an ethical food select shop called "Hello, Ethical! - Think about the Earth through your shopping" at Daikanyama T-SITE, which clearly promoted ethical issues through in-store promotional materials (POPs, flags, etc.). The first event, held in October 2022, featured chocolate and coffee that met the "Ethical Food Standards," while the second event, held in January 2025, featured mayonnaise made from free-range eggs, selected as an "ethical product" based on the "Ethical Food Standards."As a result, approximately 90% of visitors increased their intention to purchase chocolate and coffee, and approximately 50% increased their intention to purchase mayonnaise, suggesting that by providing a forum for companies to communicate their efforts to solve social issues, they may be able to create empathy for companies among consumers.
In order to conduct similar verification at regular supermarkets, we cooperated with Maruetsu Inc. and conducted a demonstration experiment entitled the "Ethical Food Fair" at two stores: the Lincos River City Store (Chuo-ku, Tokyo) and the Lincos Baytown Store (Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture). For the fair, 32 SKUs that met the "Ethical Food Standards" were selected from the products actually handled in the store, and in-store promotional materials such as dedicated web pages and price tags were created to clearly communicate the key points of the ethical products.
As a result, sales of the affected products increased by 187% at the Lincos River City store and 275% at the Lincos Baytown store compared to the same month last year. Furthermore, an analysis of V POINT purchasing data revealed that a high proportion of purchasers were heavy users of the target stores, and that the proportion of purchasers was extremely high among women in their 40s compared to users of all Maruetsu stores.
Currently, there is a lot of attention being paid to making ethical values visible on the sales floor, and we would like to continue to make improvements to our creativity in the future. We would like to challenge ourselves to link the intrinsic value of our products, such as taste and convenience, to ethical values in order to get people to pick up our products, not just those who are interested in ethics, but also those who are not.
Maruetsu Inc.
Ayano Takahashi, Business Strategy Department, Business Management Headquarters
Lincos has always had many customers who are highly conscious of social contribution and health, and this initiative has made us realize once again how strong this tendency is. During the period in stores, some customers stopped to carefully read the posters on the sales floor, and some even took photos of the entire sales floor.
In addition, our employees showed great interest in the campaign, and even after the campaign ended, we adopted the target products that were purchased in large numbers as standard items, and we continue to actively create sales areas while promoting them with "Koto Pops" that explain the ethical points.
On the other hand, there were voices from the field and planning staff saying, "We would like to see the number of SKUs for ethical products increased."This time, many daily necessities were featured, but store managers and others requested that there be more catchy products, such as sweets, that people can easily pick up and enjoy.
In the future, we would like to promote ethical products at other Lincos stores as well, by adapting our products to the environment of each sales floor.
Summary of the Food Sustainability Forum 2024 and future activity plans
CCC MK HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.
Nozomi Takita, leader of "V Everyone's Ethical Food Lab"
At the Food Sustainability Forum 2024, we have been exploring the consumer value of ethical products for a year, with participants from across industries including food manufacturers, distributors, and IT solutions, in order to create an ethical food market in Japan. In this context, we have seen that even if ethical values themselves are emphasized, they are unlikely to translate into value for the mass consumer. We have also seen the need for product development that consciously links consumer needs with ethical values, the possibility of incorporating the "fun" values of Generation Z into ethical products, and the importance of communication that translates into consumer value at the distribution site.
At the Food Sustainability Forum 2025 in 2025, we will be taking on the challenge of verifying how ethical products can be presented to consumers in a way that will create value for them and lead to purchases, as part of the social implementation phase.
In Japan, there are currently few people who think that "ethical = value," so it is necessary to link ethical values to the values sought in food itself, such as "taste," "quality/health," and "who to enjoy it with," and promote them accordingly. In the future, we would like to explore, through surveys and actual sales floor testing, specific communication methods that will convert ethical products into consumer value and increase purchase intentions.
In October 2025, we plan to conduct a demonstration experiment at Daikanyama T-SITE, focusing on a wide range of ethical products, including organic, fair trade, animal welfare, sustainable cocoa/coffee, sustainable seafood, food waste (upcycling), and sustainable packaging. We also plan to conduct similar testing in general supermarkets.
Furthermore, in future forums, we would like to discuss with you the insights that have emerged from creating hypotheses through research and analysis and verifying them in actual sales areas, and pursue the refinement of hypotheses and output that can be utilized in the actual market.
Comments from participants
Sagamiya Foods Co., Ltd. Kanto Sales Department and Sannosuke Sales Department Manager
Mr. Seiji Shinohara
While the premise was that "ethical consumption → individual responses/actions are still limited," the participants shared the challenges from the perspective of the distribution (retail) side, which greatly expanded my knowledge personally.
As in the example of Aeon Retail's dressing, I thought that there needed to be a "trigger" that would make consumers feel "good," and as a manufacturer (creator), I wanted to think about how to make coincidences inevitable.
"Soybeans" = "meat from the field." As someone who promotes tofu, which is truly a prime example of ethical food, I would like to use this knowledge in my future thinking to ensure that tofu can contribute to the spread of ethical consumption.
CCC MK HOLDINGS will work with all stakeholders involved in food, including consumers, manufacturers, and distributors, to help ethical food become more widespread in society, and each and every activity of "V Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" will contribute to creating a food cycle that will connect to the future.
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Co-creation platform "V Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" holds 4th "Food Sustainability Forum 2024"
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CCC MK HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.
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TEL: 03-6800-4464
MAIL: cccmkpr@ccc.co.jp
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