Segmentation of interested and less interested consumers in sports equipment made of bio-based plastic

Abstract

Currently only few products are made of bio-based plastic instead of conventional plastic, whose production and use is causing many environmental problems. Bio-based product alternatives could have a positive impact in consumer sectors relating to nature, such as the outdoor sporting equipment sector. For this reason, consumers’ interest in bio-based sports equipment, their product preferences and the factors which influence their interest were analyzed. Using choice-based-conjoint experiments and latent class analysis, consumer groups who are interested in these products could be differentiated from those who are less or not interested. Respondents with interest in bio-based sports equipment prefer a high bio-based plastic content, a large reduction in potential CO2-emissions and the use of regionally grown raw materials. Respondents with less interest in bio-based plastic products prefer low-priced products made of conventional plastic. To enable a more precise differentiation between these consumer groups, a discriminant analysis was also conducted. Above all, personal attitudes such as environmental awareness and nature relatedness differentiated the interest groups. With regard to Short-Schwartz-Values, only universalism and benevolence sufficiently differentiated between the interested and less interested respondents. Considering environmentally friendly behavior in other areas, interest in bio-based plastic seems to correlate with preference for organic food. Socio-demographic data did not explain the differences between the two interest groups. Finally, respondents who were interested in bio-based products had more positive expectations and stricter requirements regarding the cultivation of raw materials.