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Less than 50% are prepared to pay more for greener products
Archived article dated Thursday November 8th 2007
Less than half the UK population is willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products, according to the results of a new survey by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA.)
While the report showed that a majority of people are willing to change certain aspects of their behaviour in order to become greener, the main areas of action were seen as recycling, changing travel habits and energy efficiency. Food retail concerns were well down the list with less than a third believing that buying locally and wasting less would have a major environmental impact.That's not to say that retailers can ignore environmental concerns entirely. Half of the 3618 interviewed agreed that they tried not to buy products from a company whose ethics they disagreed with, but once price entered the equation this figure drops slightly with only 44 per cent saying they were prepared to pay more for environmentally friendly goods (29 per cent disagreed.) Environmental charity Friends of the Earth believe the government can do a lot more to help encourage people to go green.
"It's clear that people increasingly want to live greener lives, but the Government isn't doing enough to help them,” the charity said in a statement. “This is one of the reasons that UK carbon dioxide emissions have risen under Labour. The Government should introduce incentives for saving energy at home, make it cheaper for people to buy fuel-efficient vehicles and make greater investment in public transport, along with strengthening the climate change bill."
Other aspects of food retail were even less promising for environmental campaigners. While 36 per cent said they made a point of checking where fruit and vegetables are grown before buying them, exactly the same percentage said they never look at all.
Similarly, environmental brand awareness is still only partly successful. While four in five people said they had heard of Fair Trade products, around two-thirds hadn't heard of timber products from sustainable sources, and only a fifth had heard of fish from sustainable sources. Even fewer were aware of Red Tractor meat (16 per cent), Freedom food (15 per cent) or LEAF Marque food (four per cent).
Those who had heard of a particular product were asked whether they made a conscious effort to buy it. Of those who had heard of Fair trade products 45 per cent said did. Two fifths of those who had heard of fish from sustainable sources and Red Tractor meat also said they made an effort to buy them, and a quarter of those who had heard of timber from sustainable sources and Freedom foods made an effort to buy them.
But given that only a small portion of the population had heard of these brands it means that the share of the whole population who made an effort to buy the brands other than Fair Trade were down between one per cent and eight per cent.
Respondents were also asked whether they or their household regularly bought recycled toilet paper or kitchen roll, free range eggs or poultry, organic food, or other product types. The most frequently purchased of these items was free-range eggs (by 70 per cent). Less than one in three regularly bought any of the other items.
It was found that people in higher social grades or higher income groups, and those living in the rural areas were more likely both to be aware of and to purchase certain product types with environmental, animal welfare or other benefits. They also tended to be more conscious of related issues in their attitudes towards purchasing, as did people in older age groups.
In terms of where people shop, nearly all respondents said they use a supermarket at least once a month, and over 90 per cent used one to do most of their grocery shopping. After supermarkets, small independent shops and convenience stores were the most commonly used type of outlet. Markets, including farmers markets were also used by a high proportion of respondents.
The Retail Bulletin is organising the responsible Retail Summit Conference taking place in in London's Novotel West, Hammersmith on January 30th-31st, 2008
This interactive event will focus on how UK Retail Executives can develop corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies that will boost profits, reduce costs, increase market share and enhance their retail brands.
For more information follow the link below
Tagged as: environment | csr | green retailing | sustainability
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