How to guide your consumers through the maze that is sustainability

Factors that influence consumer priorities around sustainability

Consumer expectations around sustainability differ depending on the country a consumer lives in, their age, or the product category they are purchasing.

Both globally and in the UK, climate change (45% and 46% respectively) is of most concern overall for consumers. Plastic waste is also in the top three concerns both globally and in the UK. In the UK wildlife conservation is also a top three concern, while globally water pollution rounds out the top three.

The UK consumer is also concerned about issues including wealth inequality and human rights, although the survey results suggest that they are less passionate about this than their global counterparts.

The impact of age on sustainability concerns

Consumer expectations around sustainability also vary significantly by age and product category or sector, making it vital that brands and retailers are aware of such nuances. For instance, younger consumers under 40 have human rights in their top three priorities, prioritising them nearly twice as much as their older peers. Human rights sit alongside climate change and plastic waste for this age bracket. 

There is also a gap between what consumers say they are willing to do, and what they actually do (the intention-action gap) that varies depending on age and specific action. For instance during the last six months more than a quarter (27%) of younger consumers have checked the sustainability credentials of products before they have purchased - a figure that’s more than twice the rate of older consumers (13%). Meanwhile one in five (20%) of younger customers have actively researched the sustainability policies of an organisation, also twice the rate of older consumers (10%).

Defining sustainability expectations and behaviour

When looking at how consumers shop across different categories, their focus on what drives purchase differs. For instance, when it comes to fresh food consumer choice focuses on product origin and provenance, with local sourcing an influence for 24% of consumers and organic production an influence for 12%.

When it comes to beauty, however, consumers are more concerned that such products have been ethically sourced or produced (13%) and that they are sustainably packaged (14%) i.e. whether the packaging is reusable, recyclable or biodegradable.

The changing nature of sustainability spending during the pandemic

Before the pandemic, more than half (53%) of consumers said that they bought sustainable products some or all the time, although how they define that could vary. What is evident however is that  the propensity to look for sustainable products has risen significantly, with more than a quarter (28%) of respondents saying they have increased their purchase of sustainable products over the course of the pandemic and a third (34%) planning to increase it after the pandemic.

Even though sustainable products can come at a cost premium, consumers say that the investment brings a feel-good factor that is important to them, with 28% of those that have bought such goods saying they are playing their part for future generations and 27% feeling that they are contributing back to the future of the planet and society.

Cost is one barrier, but quality of information is another

However, consumers admit cost is a still an issue to be addressed, with more than two-thirds (67%) saying that high prices were a definite deterrent to them purchasing sustainable products. More than a third (35%) wish that they could afford to do more.

But other barriers are also cited by consumers. 64% perceive sustainable options to be of poorer quality while 56% cite misleading product information as putting them off buying.

These two barriers can lead to a drop off in purchasing behaviour. Consumers lose patience, with 37% of consumers saying that understanding how to make more sustainable choices is too difficult or time-consuming. More than half (51%) lack trust in brands and retailers to help them make sustainable purchasing choices. 

The retailer’s role in closing the trust gap to help the consumer make good choices

Consumers cite three main sources of information about how sustainable a product is – they are influenced by packaging claims, friends & family and the news media. Their mistrust, as well as the difficulty of understanding sustainability credentials, suggests there is more that retailers and brands can do to help consumers make sustainable choices, such as improved labelling. This desire for organisations to ‘make it clear for me’ and ‘make it real for me’ is explored further in the latest EY Human Signals research.

But there are other ways that the trust gap can be closed too, proving that sustainability is about action rather than words. Retailers and brands have adopted a range of different pledges to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and therefore their appeal to consumers wanting to buy.

In the EY teams research, we tested several different pledges to see which would drive the most engagement to buy from consumers. A pledge to ‘donate 1% of profits for the environment, support grassroots protestors, launch petitions for environmental initiatives and use 70% recycled materials’ drove the highest engagement with a 23% increase in consumer preference to shop from the company or organisation concerned.

Pragmatic pledges, such as waiving shipping fees for the delivery of products with less packaging, drove a 15% increase in consumer purchase preference. Meanwhile less measurable pledges, such as a pledge to ‘make a US$2bn climate pledge to ‘decarbonise’ the earth and achieve net-zero by 2040’ drove only a 10% increase in purchase preference.

This shows that the most effective way to engage consumers in sustainability is about combining sustainability goals with financial and activist commitments and practical change.

What businesses must do to support consumers in acting sustainably

Ultimately, our research shows that consumers want to act sustainably, but they aren’t always able to turn those desires into action. They can find the topic and the trade-offs involved complex and confusing and a deterrent from buying.

However, there is a clear prize for brands and retailers that can successfully navigate this maze of consumer preferences. Some companies are waiting for regulation and therefore will follow the lead of whatever rules are set. Meanwhile, others are being much more ambitious in this area and shaping the agenda around the future of sustainability.

Given the increasing consumer interest in sustainability, organisations that are leading will be ready and able to respond to the challenge. Others need to move sustainability higher up the priority list and should consider the following: