According to a research by Kantar, 85% of consumers believe that it is important to buy products from companies that support the causes they care about. However, 56% say that despite caring about sustainable causes, they sometimes buy products that do not support them.
Sustainability is, nowadays, a maxim to be integrated by brands, especially considering the importance given by consumers. However, Kantar has found gaps between consumers’ intentions and desires and their actual behavior.
85% of consumers believe it is important to buy products from companies that support the causes they care about, but 57% would be willing to pay more money for more environmentally sustainable products.
Despite consumers’ good intentions, gaps were found between these intentions and their actual behaviors. Some 56% acknowledge that, despite showing concern for the pollution of seas and oceans, they buy products covered by an unnecessary amount of plastic. Likewise, 63% of those who claim to be concerned about the risk of reduced diversity acknowledge having purchased products that are not certified as being of sustainable origin.
A multitude of attitudes to integrate
Carrying your shopping bag, recycling as much as possible, reducing energy and water consumption at home, buying fewer clothes, or using more environmentally friendly means of transport are some of the actions that are already being carried out and, in addition, are considered as reinforced or facilitated by the environment.
Actions such as avoiding plasticized products, buying products that do not involve animal testing and of local origin, or the use of reusable packaging when shopping are actions that we would like to carry out but for various reasons are not being done.
Traveling less or donating regularly to causes related to sustainability, have less involvement but is carried out by consumers because, in some way, they are facilitated by their environment, although in the case of travel it is due to current restrictions.
The actions where consumers are less involved are the purchase of second-hand products and products certified for their sustainability or from free-range animals, among others. These actions should be taken into account by the brands, since if they are not carried out and their low involvement may be motivated by the existing difficulties to materialize them.
A high price discourages consumers
Price is the barrier most often cited by consumers. Seventy-seven percent of them say that sustainable or ethical products are always more expensive than non-sustainable products in the same category. Seventy-three percent of consumers say that there is insufficient information about how ethical or sustainable some products are. In addition, 65% of consumers say they do not feel that they make much of an impact or difference to their behavior.
