Nine in ten shoppers believe that grocery businesses can play a key role in helping them to make more sustainable purchasing decisions, a study by tcc has found.
According to the research, which captured the views of close to 2,500 shoppers in Germany, France, Russia, China and Italy, 90% of respondents said that they believe supermarkets can help them make more sustainable choices in-store, while 78% said that they now make purchasing decisions based on whether products are environmentally friendly.
'The results provide further proof that sustainability continues to be a key issue of importance to consumers around the world – despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on shopping behaviour,' tcc said in a statement.
Country By Country
In terms of how shoppers in each of the survey countries responded, some 96% of respondents in Italy and China said that they believed supermarkets could help them make more sustainable choices.
This figure stood at 87% in Russia, 86% in Germany and 85% in France.
In terms of whether shoppers choose brands based on their environmentally-friendly credentials, 91% of shoppers in China say that they do, compared to 80% in Italy, 74% in Russia, 73% in France and 71% in Germany.
The survey also asked whether consumers 'believe' brands who say they are going to become more sustainable, with 75% answering that they do believe them – 91% of respondents in China said that they trusted brands in this regard, compared to 66% in France.
On whether brands and retailers do enough to combat food waste, however, just 40% answered that they believe they do, with the highest positive percentage again seen in China (68%), compared to 33% in Germany and 32% in France.
Role To Play
"Grocery retailers, in particular, have an important role to play," commented Nicolas Garrelly, sustainability manager at tcc. "They can tap into this strength of feeling through their loyalty rewards and in turn help shoppers make more environmentally friendly choices."
The marketing company announced the findings to coincide with the expansion of its Re-Generation brand, which uses post-consumer recycled materials to produce bakeware, homeware, bags and other accessories.
Elsewhere, EuroCommerce, which represents the retail and wholesale trade in Europe, recently launched a website to illustrate the diversity and scale of initiatives adopted by retailers and wholesalers to support more sustainable consumption.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. For more Retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
