Sustainable buying: Majority consumers changing purchase preferences; preferring local products

65 per cent consumers are willing to buy alternative non-plastic products or packaging instead of plastics amid the Covid pandemic.

Earlier because of social or environmental impact and now Covid, sustainability is getting into the mainstream for consumers as they analyse its impact on their purchasing patterns. According to a survey of 7,500 consumers and 750 large businesses based in nine countries including India by Capgemini Research, 79 per cent of consumers are changing their purchase preferences based on sustainability. The change in their behaviour in daily life is visible, for example, in terms of minimising food waste, adopting energy-efficient appliances, preferring products while shopping with least packaging etc. Amazon has been among the businesses in India that has eliminated use of plastics in packages delivered to customers.

Moreover, 65 per cent are willing to buy alternative non-plastic products or packaging instead of plastics amid the Covid pandemic. Also, 68 per cent are looking to enhance the use of local products considered to be “safe and sustainable”, the report titled How Sustainability is Fundamentally Changing Consumer Preferences said. Apart from India, the survey was carried out in the US, the UK, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.

Also read: Xiaomi, Vivo, Samsung retain top spots even as smartphone market shrinks nearly 50% in Q2 2020

In India, 84 per cent of those surveyed also said that they would prefer to purchase more locally made or produced products instead of imported goods in the coming 12 months. If these needs are met, businesses have a chance to boost their market share along with other benefits. 77 per cent businesses said that that “sustainability approaches increase customer loyalty and 63 per cent have seen a revenue uptick.” In fact, Infact, missing out on sustainability is directly proportional to missed revenue opportunity for retail and consumer products firms. According to the survey, 6.1 per cent responding firms from India said that revenue is missed when sustainability practices are not adopted while globally 5.8 per cent firms agreed to it.

However, when it comes trusting the sustainability claims made by the companies, there is some gap. 49 per cent consumer said do not have any information to verify the sustainability claims made by products while particularly for India, that share stand at 40 per cent of consumers.