Conscious consumers forcing market reaction
Shoppers are voting with their wallets and increasingly choosing to buy from companies that claim they benefit society and the environment, a marketer says.
GoodSense Marketing managing director Kath Dewar said it was a trend that marketing departments had noticed, forcing carbon-creating companies to tell customers about their environmentally savvy plans.
‘‘It is a major, significant commercial trend,’’ Dewar said.
‘‘People want to understand that the food in their mouths and the clothes on their back are ideally doing good for environment.’’
This week Air New Zealand released its annual 2017 sustainability report, outlining plans to lower its environmental impact such as electric charging planes, and recycling untouched snacks and drinks to reduce inflight waste.
In October last year, the airline introduced a reforestation donation option for passengers to offset some plane carbon emissions when booking flights online.
The report said the donations of a few dollars per flight had offset the carbon emissions of 40,000 flights so far.
Dewar said large companies, like Air New Zealand, were making their supply chains more transparent and were communicating what environmental problems they still had to fix.
‘‘The smart ones realise investments that reduce the cost of operations, and create a good story to tell, will be the businesses that survive in the future.’’
Dewar said the conscious con- sumer trend was forcing businesses to take a position on the environment.
‘‘It is becoming increasingly difficult to sit on the fence with this.’’
Countdown’s announcement on Wednesday to phase out plastic bags from 184 of its stores by the end of 2018 proved it had become a competition.
But she said shoppers needed to be aware of ‘‘green wash’’ marketing – companies staking false claims that they were benefiting the environment.
Dewar said New Zealand’s tough advertising laws made it hard for companies to fake it, but many still did.
There was also a growing demand to buy from socially conscious businesses. She urged consumers to question the companies they bought from, to pressure them into becoming more socially and environmentally responsible.