Consumers are increasingly choosing products based on whether the packaging used is sustainable, new data from Circana has found.
As part of Circana’s FMCG Demand Signals report, the research firm asked shoppers whether they would purchased a particular product, or switched to another product over the last 12 months, based on the packaging used.
Some 55% of Spanish consumers said that they chose a brand specifically for the packaging, while in France, just over half (51%) of shoppers claim to have switched brands or products because of concerns about the packaging.
In Germany, two fifths (43%) of consumers have purchased more products in environmentally friendly packaging.
Overall, close to half (48.3%) of European consumers have purchased less products packed in plastic in the past year.
‘Taking sustainability seriously’
“Brands that want to continue to get listings – especially prominent listings – will need to show they’re taking sustainability seriously,’ commented Ananda Roy, global SVP, strategic growth insights, Circana.
“Those that want to make sustainability square up with volume growth will need to focus less on isolated ‘green’ initiatives and more on showing how sustainability runs through everything they do.”
FMCG Demand Signals
Circana‘s FMCG Demand Signals report is based on retailer sales data for more than 10 million SKUs over 230 food and non-food categories for the full year ending June 2023.
The report also found that European shoppers are persistently reducing their purchases, with unit sales experiencing a decline of -1.3% over the past year. At the same time, value sales have seen a notable surge, rising by an additional 10.1% year on year, to €636 billion. However, this increase is predominantly attributed to inflation.
