By: Pablo Santillan Caicedo, Knowledge Management coordinator in the DecarBOOST project
At the nexos+1 keynote event in March 2021, Helio Mattar, president and CEO of Brazil's Instituto Akatú outlined the characteristics, interests and transformative capacity of a consumer who is demanding a market response in line with the challenges facing the planet.
In Helio Mattar's opinion, this new consumer is a promoter of the sustainable future and is part of the 3.2 billion middle-class people who, worldwide, consume more than 60% of the resources that the planet is capable of renewing each year; in other words, it takes one year and seven months for the planet to renew the resources consumed in the previous 365 days. In ten years, the new consumers will number 4.9 billion, which will put great pressure on the world's natural resources.
At Healthy & Sustainable Living: A Global Consumer Insights Project, a global study conducted during the pandemic shows that, as of June 2020, consumer perceptions about the seriousness of global issues have changed. Climate change appears as a very serious problem among 60-70% of respondents, even a third of consumers consider themselves to be hugely and personally affected by climate change. That explains why 89% of consumers think that the COVID19 pandemic and climate change require the same urgency. The pandemic has caused consumers to take a different view of climate change, from an understanding that the human-environment relationship would explain the emergence of COVID19.
Is the consumer willing to pay more?
This study argues that the new consumer demands a market response in line with the challenges facing the planet. It is a consumer who would be willing to acknowledge and pay a little more, 59% of respondents in Mexico, 55% in Brazil and 49% in Argentina; that is, more than 50% of respondents in these countries are willing to pay more for products that are better for people and the environment.
Globally, 57% are willing to pay more as a way to atone for the negative impact of their consumption patterns. At the same time, consumers demand more affordable products, especially if they do not perceive that they have a value in terms of benefit to society and the environment. 30% of these consumers expect companies to make it easier for them to identify these types of products and understand why they are sustainable. Right now they express that they do not have enough information to make that decision. This is a key factor, because if the consumer perceives that the product is sustainable, they will definitely pay more. In the future, it will be important to measure whether the decision to pay more for a sustainable product will become a motivator for consumers to promote an environmentally responsible policy.
What market response does the consumer expect?
Consumers expect more than just economic statistics to measure growth. More than 70% believe that health, social and economic statistics are equally important to measure progress in society, and in response, consumers want companies to do their part. Companies, governments, non-profit organizations can help the consumer.
In consumer perception, climate change is directly related to sustainable and healthy living. 50-60% of global consumers want a change in their lifestyle, aiming for better health and a better relationship with the environment, although at the time of the study, just under a third of respondents reported having made significant changes.
The pandemic has led to a growing perception of a conflict between consumption and the environment. What seems to happen is that consumers relate their consumption patterns and the environment as if it were a negative construct, perceiving that consumption leads to an effect or impact on the environment, so that what is good for the consumer is not good for the environment. The relationship between consumption and the environment is quite clear for almost 50% of global consumers. In Brazil, 30% of consumers consider that what is good for the consumer is not good for the environment. While in Mexico and Argentina, 37% of consumers thought that what was good for the consumer was not good for the environment. The perception of Brazilian consumers' advocacy capacity is stronger than in other Latin American countries: 82% of consumers in Brazil think that they can do a lot to improve the environment, as well as 77% in Argentina and 66% in Mexico.
The consumer will become more and more the protagonist
Consumers themselves are demanding to learn from companies what they are doing and what they are not doing, to define which companies should be rewarded for their environmental activity. 30-35% of global and middle-class consumers are demanding big changes; one-third of these people have already made changes in their own lives associated with their consumption habits.
55% of global consumers are turning to brands that are committed to or have established socially responsible plans. Global consumers have specific demands for companies: 80% that they treat their employees well, 18% that they care about the environment and reduce their impact on climate change, 60-70% that companies develop initiatives for a better world.
While about 18% of consumers are loyal to brands, this loyalty increases if companies help consumers become part of a movement that is bigger than themselves.
This new consumer will continue to demand answers.
