Environmental and ethical considerations rank lower than brand name or pack size for consumers when purchasing personal care products, a new study has found.
The study, by Yewon Kim, assistant professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Kristina Brecko, assistant professor at the University of Rochester, found that while 78% of consumers claim to prioritise sustainable living, this is not a primary motivating factor when purchasing personal care items.
About the study
The study examined six terabytes of US sales data covering 30,000 health and beauty products between 2012 and 2019, and found that most shoppers primarily choose products based on brand name, ingredients, and packaging size.
The study also found that around one third of products sold during this period made at least one environmental or social claim – around 29% were labeled ‘cruelty-free’, 14% highlighted eco-friendly packaging, and less than 3% referenced reduced greenhouse gas emissions or fair-trade certification.
Other findings from the study include that small, independent brands are leading the charge when it comes to developing product lines that meet or exceed environmental standards, while larger brands tend to introduce eco-friendly products through strategic acquisitions.
Examples of this include Unilever’s ownership of Schmidt’s Naturals, Colgate-Palmolive’s ownership of Tom’s of Maine, and Clorox’s ownership of Burt’s Bees.
‘A clear differentiation’
‘The market shows a clear differentiation in sustainable products across brands,’ the researchers stated in their introduction to the study. ‘Dominant brands offer fewer sustainable products and, when they do, tend to provide lower-cost, less preferred sustainable options than their non-sustainable products.
‘In contrast, smaller brands tend to offer high-cost, high-preference sustainable offerings. Second, this differentiation arises from consumers placing a lower priority on sustainability and favouring sustainability features from fringe brands, which weakens large brands’ incentives to invest in sustainability while creating differentiation opportunities for fringe brands.’ Read more here.
