• Academics identify three key characteristics that make a product sustainable in the eyes of the consumer
• The researchers say these can be grouped as ‘circularity’, ‘naturalness’, ‘social equality’
• Sustainable companies need to be appealing to customers through emphasising these factors in their marketing

Consumers today are incredibly well-informed compared to those of, say, 20 years ago. Long gone are the days where consumers only cared about the price of goods or the label they displayed. Today, consumers are far more likely to care about the materials that make the product; how they were sourced, whether they are natural or not, the ethics behind their production.

Whilst brand names still provide a lure, increasingly for consumers, their shopping habits are based less on prestige. Though it’s true, most consumers don’t simply buy from faceless companies, those known and trusted names are now being judged not just on their products but also their values and their actions. Going beyond what it takes to make a product, consumers are also swayed by how a company might treat its staff, and its stance on diversity and even politics as well as environmental concerns.

In fact, in recent years we’ve seen a huge number of boycotts to companies because of their ethical values – whether its consumers boycotting L’Oreal due to its links to unethical animal testing in its supply chain; Amazon for their poor record when it comes to employee and workers’ rights; or products due to the company’s perceived links to, or even inaction on international conflicts.

But consumers do not just refuse to buy products or services from companies they “don’t like”, they actively seek out companies whose values they do align with to purchase from. In fact, a report from First Insight and the Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton Business School found that nearly 90% of Gen X consumers said that they would be willing to spend an extra 10% or more for sustainable products.

Sustainability, however, means different things to different people – which can be difficult for companies to address when trying to best adapt their products, practices and services to customers new and old.

Defining Sustainability

For example, research from emlyon business school shows, often there is a disconnect between consumers and retailers, and the aspects that the retailer is highlighting to showcase sustainability to consumers and encourage purchasing, may actually be doing the opposite.

Focusing on this issue, researchers from Vlerick Business School decided to find out exactly what it is that makes a product or service sustainable in the eye of a consumer – in order for companies to better cater to this, so that not only are they doing good, but they are benefitting reputation and sales wise from doing so.

To find out what triggered the word ‘sustainable’ in the minds of consumers, Frank Goedertier, Professor of Marketing at Vlerick Business School, together with his co-authors, Joeri Van den Bergh, from Human8 and Vlerick Business School, and Bert Weijters and Ole Schacht, both from Ghent University, researched over 5,500 consumers, across seven different developed countries: France, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia in two data collection waves.

Nineteen separate hands-on sustainability practices were identified by the investigation, with the researchers also exploring the extent to which consumers associated these with the notion of sustainability.

In reviewing these 19 practices, the researchers noted that when a company claims to be ‘sustainable’ consumers felt this related to three particular types of commitment;

• Circularity: which bundles the associative elements in consumers’ minds that relate to avoiding exhausting natural resources and re-using materials (e.g., ‘circular economy initiatives’, ‘recycling programs’, ‘restoration/replenishment of natural resources’).

• Naturalness: which covers elements related to the use of non-artificial production methods and resulting products. Examples are ‘no chemicals in production’, ‘no pesticides for vegetables’, ‘no production of GMOs’.

• Social equality: relates to elements that relate to the need to ‘care for people’. Examples are ‘gender equality’, ‘fair wages’ or ‘good labour conditions’

“Sustainability is being increasingly proposed as an overarching goal for transforming the way we live, work, and consume, and more and more consumers want to purchase from brands that they know are sustainable in their practices”, says Frank Goedertier,

No one right path to follow

“However, it is unclear what hands-on practices consumers actually associate with (or expect from) a brand that claims to be ‘sustainable’. Our findings reveal specific notions that can allow companies to position their brands on sustainability in a way that reflects the hands-on practices and aspects consumers associate with it,” Goedertier continues.

So how can this guide companies in making the right choices and positioning their products in the right way?

The researchers say that the findings are particularly interesting as previous literature focuses on separating both social and environmental factors when it comes to sustainability. In this study, consumers clearly group both together when it comes to identifying a sustainable brand.

The researchers hope that, by shedding light on how consumers view sustainability, companies can start actively including the operational indicators behind these associative concepts in brand positioning & marketing communication efforts towards consumers.

Communication, it seems, matters. Companies which can generate more impactful and consumer-relevant sustainability communication and actions – highlighting the key areas consumers view as sustainable indicators may find themselves in better favour.

And, as always, authenticity is key. Taking the right actions for the right reasons can return benefits in more ways than one. Companies might find that not only are they doing right by the planet and gaining approval from consumers, but it may improve prospects in other areas too…

Interested in this topic? You might also like this…