Parents are “paying over the odds” for infant formula, according to new research by the Competition & Markets Authority.
It has today (8 November) issued an interim report detailing “a number of concerns” relating to the “unintended consequences of the regulations”, “a lack of timely, clear and impartial information”, companies’ responses to regulations around marketing, and limited competition on formula prices in shops.
The report also outlines several potential options for addressing these issues, such as giving parents better information earlier and reshaping regulations.
Regulation & pricing
The report highlights that while regulations around infant formula play “a key role in the market, supporting important public health goals”, some aspects have had “unintended consequences, contributing to consumers paying higher prices”.
For example, regulation dictates that companies cannot promote infant formula, including price reductions or deals, so as not to discourage breastfeeding. As such, companies rely heavily on other ways to distinguish their products, such as brand-building and marketing.
“Manufacturers appear to signal the superiority of their products in ways which are difficult for parents to meaningfully assess – for example, terming their formula ‘advanced’ or saying it is based on scientific research,” said the CMA.
“This is done in the context of regulations, which include a ban on making health and nutritional claims on infant formula and restrict its advertisement, making it difficult for manufacturers to differentiate their products.
“It also risks diluting the important public health message that all infant formula meets nutritional needs.”
Due to limited incentives to compete on price, the CMA has provisionally found that – unlike in many other grocery categories – there is little pressure on manufacturers or retailers to shelter customers from increases in manufacturing costs, which have largely been passed on quickly and in full.
“When combined with brand loyalty and the essential nature of the product for many families, parents have been shouldering the increasing price of formula for several years,” it claimed.
Choice of infant formula
The CMA’s consumer research has found that parents often choose a formula for the first time in vulnerable situations – often in hospital immediately after birth – and frequently without access to clear, accurate and impartial information needed to make an informed decision.
“Decisions around infant formula also come with a high amount of pressure, as parents naturally want to do what is best for their baby. This can lead to parents actively choosing a more expensive product – assuming a higher price means better quality.
“Parents often rely on shortcuts – such as recommendations from friends and family – when choosing a formula, and brand reputation plays an outsized role in decision-making.”
Regulation & advertising
Regulation dictates that the labelling and presentation of infant and follow-on formulas be ‘clearly distinct’ from each another. This seeks to prevent confusion between products and ensure infant formula is not indirectly marketed via follow-on products.
However, the evidence reviewed by the CMA to date shows that “similar branding and labelling – including similar colour palettes, fonts and imagery – are frequently used across ranges of infant and follow-on formulas, making a brand’s products look very similar”.
“It appears that the advertising and promotion of follow-on formula have been supporting sales of infant formula because of this.
“Manufacturers’ promotional and marketing spending on follow-on formula and growing-up milks is high; this is where brands can differentiate themselves from rivals as the advertising restrictions in place for infant formula do not apply.”
Recommendations
The CMA has set out five options that it claims could help improve the sector and reduce costs for parents.
- Information and supply in healthcare settings: providing parents with clear, accurate and impartial information, including on the nutritional sufficiency of all infant formula products, and possible measures to reduce the influence of branding – for example, providing parents with a wider range of formula options to choose from or using standardised infant formula packaging in hospitals.
- Information and price promotion in retail settings: providing clear, accurate, and impartial information, including on nutritional sufficiency at the point of sale; and incentivising competition on price by potentially permitting prices and price reductions to be publicised.
- Clarifying, monitoring and enforcing existing regulations: including clarifying how existing regulations apply online, and strengthening the relevant authorities’ role so that they must approve the packaging of all infant formula products before they are placed on the market. The relevant national authorities are Department for Health & Social Care, Scottish government, Welsh government, and Foods Standards Agency in Northern Ireland.
- Strengthening labelling and advertising rules: including measures to moderate the role of brand awareness in decision-making in this highly regulated market. This could be done by reducing the incentive and ability of manufacturers to engage in brand-building behaviour – for example, by requiring entirely different branding for infant and follow-on formula or implementing stricter thresholds for certain types of on-pack messages.
- Backstop measures (not currently recommended) – price controls and public provision: to reflect the acute issues some parents face due to high formula prices, the interim report sets out a number of more significant interventions that governments could, in principle, make with the aim of bringing down prices directly – such as price caps.
“This is a very important and unique market,” said Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA.
“We’re concerned that companies don’t compete strongly on price and many parents – who may be choosing infant formula in vulnerable circumstances and without clear information – opt for more expensive products, equating higher costs with better quality for their baby.
“We have identified options for change, but now want to work closely with governments in all parts of the UK, as well as other stakeholders, as we develop our final recommendations.
“Importantly, any changes must continue to support regulation that ensures all formula gives babies the nutrition they need to thrive – as well as supporting governments’ aims on breastfeeding.
“We’ll now be consulting on our provisional findings and the options we’ve put forward to get important insight from government and stakeholders – all of which will feed into our final recommendations early next year.”
The CMA is seeking feedback on these options from interested parties, including stakeholders, consumers and the industry at large, ahead of publishing its final report in February 2025.
Final submissions on the interim report must be made by 29 November 2024.
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