Just over a third (35%) of European consumers are 'less trusting' of brands due to their sluggish approach to sustainability, a new study has found.
The study, by market research firm FMCG Gurus, surveyed 11,000 consumers in 11 countries during the third quarter of 2019. It found that close to two thirds of European consumers (61%) are concerned about the state of the environment, with more than half (55%) believing it to have deteriorated over the last two years.
Embracing Sustainability
While consumers are stepping up their efforts to find firms that are adopting environmentally-friendly business practices, there is a growing apathy about brands' efforts to embrace sustainability, the study found.
Of the 35% that have become less trusting of brands, four in ten of these do not believe that brands have the best interests of the environment at heart.
'This suggests that brands must make a greater effort to demonstrate their pro-environmental policies and initiatives, and work to allay concerns about use of superficial environmentalism as a marketing ploy,' the study reads.
'When 44% of European consumers are actively looking for brands that have strong environmental credentials and more than half are checking products for environmentally friendly claims – such as non-GMO, animal welfare initiatives, and reduced/zero carbon footprint – this is going to be vital.'
Half of respondents (50%) to the study said that they are worried about global warming trends, while a similar number (52%) said that they are concerned about reducing their carbon emissions.
In addition, a third (33%) of consumers report that they are making a greater effort to reduce their carbon footprint.
Change Of Diet
Consumers are also altering their shopping habits and diets, as they strive to be more environmentally friendly with regard to the products they consume. Some 47% of respondents said that they are buying more local food and drink products, while 48% said that they are reducing or eliminating dairy products from their diets.
'There is a clear trend in this data towards consumers being better educated, more proactive, and more discerning,' the report reads.
'Increasingly, companies cannot get away with using superficial environmentalism as a shield, and consumers are starting to demand better. Companies that are quick to position themselves as genuinely environmentally friendly and actively take steps to improve their image will be able to reap benefits in the markets: companies that fail to do so risk being left behind.'
The findings are taken from FMCG Gurus' Global and Regional Sustainability survey, which surveyed 11,000 consumers across 11 European countries, in the third quarter of 2019.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
