According to the study “Conscious Commerce”, conducted by Shopify, an internet infrastructure provider for commerce and specialized firm Sapio Research, awareness of climate change is driving the choice of consumers.
Research shows, for example, that 62% of consumers are unwilling to compromise on sustainability, even in these uncertain economic times.
This study was conducted in October 2022 to find out how people plan to shop during the holiday season and their views on sustainable commerce.
Shopify and Sapio Research co-designed questionnaires and surveys on the behavior and attitudes of 24,009 consumers across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, and New Zealand. Zealand, Japan, United States and Canada. They also surveyed 9,012 corporate executives across the same countries.
Research shows how consumers and businesses are continuing to engage in sustainable practices, encouraging solutions like zero-carbon transportation and paying attention to climate-friendly practices, despite crisis due to rising cost of living and shrinking spending budget.
Additionally, 82% of sellers surveyed globally said how strongly they believe there is a correlation between sustainability and improved business performance itself, such as how sustainability practices Sustainability is now inevitable success in business.
“This report shows that climate awareness is driving consumer purchasing decisions, even in difficult economic circumstances. As a result, everyone is interested in taking action. sustainability, such as adopting a ‘low-waste or zero-waste’ approach to producing and delivering zero-waste products, said Stacy Kauk, Shopify’s head of sustainability.
Consumers don’t give up on sustainability
Globally, many consumers are putting eco-friendly practices first, and 54% have made sustainable purchases, such as choosing retailers that offer free shipping. emissions.
The report shows that consumers around the world are actively changing their shopping habits, making choices that have a positive impact on the planet such as eliminating unnecessary purchases (35%), choosing products with recyclable or eco-friendly packaging (24%) and shop locally (24%).
This is a steadily increasing trend, although 38% of consumers say they are cautious about spending (45% in Italy) due to the rising cost of living.
Europe also leads the world in conscious shopping: looking at Italy, it is found that 64% of Italian consumers shop sustainably and plan to continue to do so, while 37% of respondents willing to spend more to buy from a sustainable brand, especially Millennials (46%) and Gen Z (38%).
It is the younger generation that is leading the conscious shopping revolution, fueled by urgency over climate change: 59% of Gen Z and 61% of Millennials globally have shopped sustainably, while 31 % of both age groups want to shop more sustainably this year .
Cost is the main obstacle to the sustainability of companies
Some companies have revealed that cost is the main obstacle to greater sustainability, especially for larger companies, which may have more complex supply chain constraints. And in fact, while 40% of companies with 1–50 employees consider it a real obstacle, this rate rises to 48% for larger companies (501-1,000 employees).
While cost can be an obstacle, especially at this point, larger retailers are still the most likely (46%) to see the current economic climate as an opportunity to accelerate purchases. their sustainability program. Indeed, in the future, those who are more climate conscious will not only receive greater consumer interest, but also bring economic benefits to the companies themselves.
Companies looking for new ways to create sustainable practices
Consumers welcome sustainability initiatives, especially as almost half (45%) globally say they are willing to pay a fee if it leads to a reduction in their carbon footprint. For example, two common sustainability practices among companies are in-store recycling, offered by 37% of Italian companies, and sustainability programs in which a percentage of sales are donated to organizations. non-profit organization (made by 32% of Italian SMEs).
But retailers can also use a variety of tools to reduce emissions. For example, Shopify’s developed the Planet app, which enables the use of a carbon-free shipping system on 100% of the company’s orders. Planet automatically calculates estimated shipping emissions for each company order with a cost that can vary from $0.04 to $0.15 per order to remove carbon from ozone.
The app calculates estimated emissions for each order and allows merchants to reduce these emissions by sponsoring Shopify-supported companies that are working to eliminate carbon emissions. Planet has neutralized the shipping emissions of more than 7 million orders with high-quality carbon removal, totaling more than 6,000 tons of carbon.
Shopify is a global commerce platform that works with millions of companies in over 175 countries including Alessi, BasicNet, Velasca, Pittarosso, Allbrids, Netflix and many more.
The company is determined to reverse climate change. Among its activities, the company has committed more than US$33 million to 22 business, technology-oriented companies, including Running Tide, Remora, Climeworks, etc., through initiatives such as Shopify’s Planet app, an app designed to help businesses achieve carbon-neutral shipping for all orders.
It also created Shopify’s Sustainability Fund, an initiative to support the development of technologies that remove carbon from the atmosphere, and is also a founding member of Frontier, a valuable pre-market commitment. $925 million to accelerate carbon removal over the next nine years.
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