Impression makes a huge impact on a consumer’s decision in a product. In Marketing, there is a term known as the First Moment of Truth (FMOT). It simply decribes the first 3 to 7 seconds in which a shopper lands his eyes on a product in a store. Within these few seconds, your shopper may be looking for an answer to a few questions in general, such as “Is the product I’m looking at halal?”, “Where did this product come from?” and “What are the ingredients used in the product?”. The reason why these questions matter is because they make up a major portion of a shopper’s decision in purchasing a product. For instance, as the title of this article suggests, “Is this product Halal?”, this question matters a lot to Muslim consumers as it concerns their faith and belief. 

Credits: Shutterstock

As reported in the Department of Halal Certification, EU’s statistics, Muslim consumers make up a consumer base of 1.9 billion globally across 112 countries. In other words, the Halal market size is seen as the prioritized market for many businesses to invest in as many people see the potential and worth of the market due to the size of its consumer base. However, to meet the needs of these consumers, certain things may need to be taken into account. For instance, as the Halal market grows bigger, many brands may start labeling their food product as “Halal” to target the Muslim consumers, but what do these consumers actually look for in a Halal food product?

Credits: Open Food Facts (Milo Cereal ingredients label)

Ingredients

As much as the food product is labeled as “Halal”, your consumers may wonder about the origins of the ingredients used in the product. A certified Halal food product should and must represent the overall quality and production of the product is complied with the dietary and law set by the authority. When a product is labeled halal, it needs to guarantee the ingredients used in the product are also clean and safe to be consumed by Muslim consumers. Give your consumers the confidence needed, and you are guaranteed a higher chance of repeat purchase from them. So, the next time when you want to position your food product as “Halal”, take this into your consideration.

Credits: FoodNavigator-Asia (Malaysia’s Cadbury Chocolate Packaging)

Information Presentation

Sometimes, the packaging of a food product may limit how much information can be presented to your consumers at once. Therefore, consumers are often encountered with a product having inadequate information in terms of labels (net quantity of content, name of manufacturer and distributor, product date, nutrition information, and specific terminology) and ingredients, making them having doubts about the validity and authenticity of the halal food product in their hands. Insufficient information on the packaging may result in relatively lower transparency on the origins of your food product and thus affects the trustworthiness of your brand as well. This is crucial especially when there is news reported previously on the use of fake halal logo on non-halal products and the use of a Muslim’s name as a marketing technique to mislead consumers into believing the products to be halal. After the reporting of such news, consumers now are being more careful when it comes to the information presented on a food product’s packaging. Do make sure your product contains all the needed labels and information that your consumers are looking for!

Credits: Skyscraper City

Authenticity of Halal Certificate

As mentioned, the Halal market has been seen with many opportunities to dive in due to its large consumer base. And the first of many steps to step into the market is to get your product Halal certified by the authority. Following many incidents on the use of fake halal logo, consumers have also become more alerted towards the authenticity of halal certificate pasted on the food products. Consumers can easily identify if a product is truly halal-certified from the halal logo itself or the five-digit halal registration number on the packaging of the product. In fact, not only do brand owners need to apply for the Halal certification, but manufacturers, distributors, sub-contract manufacturers, repacking manufacturers, and the abattoirs involved in the supply chain are required to apply for the Halal certification as well. This is to ensure the authenticity of the Halal claim made by the brand owner, as the parties involved in the supply chain are all halal certified too.

Credits: Depositphotos 

After all, the government has now made the Halal certificate application easier for business owners to save down on the hassle that you have to go through. Therefore, if you are planning to dive into the Halal market or introducing your food products into this market, make sure you know what your Muslim consumers are looking for in your products! 

Additionally, here’s a few recommended solutions that may help you or your consumers with the problems raised above. 

1.Scan Halal 

To make the halal food market more transparent, the Scan Halal solution was established by Scan Halal, an independent globally recognized halal organization involved in educating, advocating, and promoting halal in Chicago. This provided solution allows consumers to identify the right product and avoid the wrong by presenting the full information of the product with just a simple scan on the barcode of the product through the phone camera. 

2.OneAgrix 

Similarly, OneAgrix also aims to proffer transparency in the growing halal economy and allow its consumers to trace the origins of the food products as per the teachings of Islamic beliefs. This innovative Blockchain platform serves two vital functions in the industry including allowing businesses that sell Halal products to track and trace not only the origins of the Halal end-product supplied to them but also the intermediate goods that are used in the production process. Secondly, this solution also enables consumers, suppliers, and customers to verify the authenticity of producers’ halal certificate to avoid the goods produced by unauthorized producers.

3.SERUNAI

Thirdly, SERUNAI is one of the largest Halal digital platforms from Malaysia which aims to bridge the gap between the suppliers of Halal products and the consumers. Since its establishment, SERUNAI has come out with several innovations that have enhanced the Halal industry, and this includes a solution named Verify Halal application. This solution allows consumers to verify the authenticity of the Halal certified products through either scanning of Verify Halal members’ products or searching for Halal products via the search bar. Also, as SERUNAI has taken the initiative to connect different parties of the supply chain within the same market globally, Verify Halal does not only help consumers to verify the Halal products made in Malaysia, but it is also capable of verifying Halal products made from other countries such as Thailand, Australia, China and many more. 

4.BrandTag 

Lastly, Brandtag is a solution provided by Luxtag to help brand owners to market their products better and with higher transparency on the origins and related information of the products. Not only do brand owners from the Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and Food and Beverage (F&B) industry can present the origins of their products from the initial stage of the supply chain to the end, but BrandTag also allows brand owners to display their Halal certificate to the consumers digitally via the system! In other words, consumers do not have to go through the trouble of verifying the authenticity of Halal certificate by themselves as the certificate has been previously verified by BrandTag following the registration of the brand with the system. 

Fascinating enough? There are still many more things that you might not know when it comes to your consumers! Stay tuned for our next article, as we’ll be talking about what other aspects your consumer is concerned about when it comes to the FMOT towards your product.

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