A survey commissioned by sustainable consumer goods brand Bower Collective has revealed that consumers in the UK are still making conscious choices about buying sustainable products and services, despite the impact of the cost of living crisis.
The survey, conducted with YouGov, found that 85% of respondents said they are seeing the impact of the cost of living crisis on the consumer choices they make.
When asked whether they had previously prioritised sustainable products and services in the choices they made, 69% said that they had.
Of that number, 50% said they would still prioritise sustainability in their choices, while 23% said they wouldn’t and 27% were not sure. The survey went out to over 500 UK mainland consumers between the ages of 25 and 65.
We commissioned this survey to understand how people were responding and were really encouraged by the results.
The main areas where people were cutting back their expenditures were going out, entertainment, and travel. Household products and food were the lowest priorities in terms of budget cutting.
A recent report by global consultancy McKinsey – ‘How current events are shaping UK consumer behaviour’ (July 2022) – found that companies that prioritise sustainable packaging and reuse indexed highest in the reasons for consumer choice within the past 3 months.
CEO and co-founder of Bower Collective, Nick Torday, who commissioned the survey from YouGov, said: “We know that the cost of living is having a real impact on consumer choices right now in the UK. We commissioned this survey to understand how people were responding and were really encouraged by the results.
“We know that sustainable products and services do tend to be a bit more expensive than conventional alternatives but we also see that consumers recognise that is a small price to pay for positive environmental impact.”