In general, ethical, sustainable, and climate-friendly products tend to cost more than their regular counterparts. This is because of the extra work put into making those products, however, they deliver the promise of treating our environment with more care, as it is in jeopardy right now. In the past, shoppers primarily chose their products based on price or brand, but nowadays, more and more shoppers are choosing their products based on the ethics behind them. An international study of 20,000 consumers by British multinational consumer goods company Unilever has reported that 1 in 3 people (33%) chose to buy from brands that they believed were more environmentally-conscious.
Have purchases of sustainable products increased over time?
According to new research, the majority of Americans say they would pay an extra 36% if they knew that their purchase was ethically sound. In addition to the environment benefiting from these people going the extra mile, companies that went out of their way to ethically source products are benefiting from an increase in profit. According to NYU Stern’s Center for Sustainable Business, 50% of the growth in consumer packaged goods came from sustainably-marketed products. Products that were marketed sustainably delivered $113.9 billion in sales, a 29% increase from 2013, and are projected to grow to $140.5 billion in sales by the year 2023. In over 90% of the categories examined (33 out of 36 categories), these products grew 5.6 times faster than those that were not marketed as sustainable. Even in categories with low market shares of sustainable products, shares have been increasing. Interestingly, categories that demand high functionality do not have a large amount of sustainable purchases, but still increased in shares. Conversely, categories with low functionality demands have higher sustainable purchases. This is possibly because for essential items, such as toothpaste and trash bags, people are more concerned with purchasing an adequate supply than knowing where the product came from. In conclusion, products marketed as sustainable are driving not only product growth but also total market growth.
The issue of greenwashing
While companies are using environmental claims to attract consumers, they also undergo greater scrutiny. In 2010, 4,744 “green” products in Canada and the US were surveyed, and a staggering 95% of them were guilty of greenwashing, or conveying a false impression that those products were more environmentally sound. Some greenwashing tactics companies use include a hidden trade-off that outweighs the supposed "green-ness" of the product, not having proof to back their environmental claims, and vagueness. For example, labeling something as "all natural" means that it's good and healthy, right? You know what else is all natural? Arsenic and mercury, two elements found in nature that could kill you. Claims like these have led the phrase "eco-friendly" to lose its meaning. Another tactic used is stating true, but unhelpful and unimportant, environmental claims just to appeal to consumers. Although more and more people are willing to pay more for environmentally conscious products, not a lot of these products are very environmentally conscious in the first place. Which means we're really not getting anywhere on our quest of environmental activism.
Conclusion
In this day and age, the majority of people say they would pay more for products that are sustainable. This sounds like progress, however, some companies go out of their way to ethically source products, while others lie to attract consumers. But in general, the willingness of consumers to buy more sustainable products benefits those companies. In fact, it benefits those companies even more than it benefits the environment as a lot of "green" products aren't actually green.
References
Kommentare