Abstract
Background: Retailers and brand managers may be reticent to introduce products that are marketed as sustainable because prior research identifies a discrepancy between what consumers say they intend to purchase (via survey) and what they actually do at retail (via purchases). This research shows that despite this gap, products that have sustainable claims on their package are outperforming growth of conventional products in respective categories. Methods: We conducted a large-scale study of U.S. consumer purchases using IRI retail barcode data from 2013 to 2018, analyzing 36 consumer packaged goods (CPG) categories, representing 41% of total CPG dollar volume. We conducted detailed analyses of marketing messages from a subset of categories representing both high and low sustainability-marketed share development. Results: We calculated that ~50% of the growth in the in-sample CPG market came from sustainability-marketed products. These products accounted for 17% share of market ($) in 2018, up from 14% in 2013. Our detailed marketing-message analysis in five categories found: The most commonly found sustainability messages were category specific. Organic was the most dominant. Legacy (mainstream) brands that adopted sustainability messages contributed more to share increases of sustainability-marketed products than smaller, non-legacy brands. Higher efficacy products with sustainability claims had lower market share than lower efficacy products. However, in a study of one product category, we found that sustainability-marketed products performed best when accompanied by explicit efficacy claims. In four of the five categories examined, third-party certified sustainability-marketed products significantly outgrew sustainable products that had sustainable messaging, but no third-party certification.
Highlights
We present a timely, multi-category study of U.S consumer purchasing behavior of sustainability-marketed products in consumer packaged goods (CPG)
To answer our research questions, we used in-market IRI point of sale (POS) data in measured channels for each product
Plant-based for laundry, Rainforest Alliance for chocolate, sustainably sourced in coffee, and Non-GMO for yogurt. These findings provide some empirical evidence to support prior research suggesting that ethical product messages work best when the type of claim is aligned with the product category [17]
Summary
Multi-category study of U.S consumer purchasing behavior of sustainability-marketed products in consumer packaged goods (CPG). CPG is a useful category to gauge consumer buying patterns overall as consumers frequently buy packaged food and personal care products. We coded and compared various marketing messages (functional claims, sustainability claims, third-party certifications, and brand) in select categories representing both high and low shares of sustainabilitymarketed products. This research examined actual purchases, not consumer purchase intent. We contribute to the literature by quantifying the changes in actual consumer purchases of sustainability-marketed products on an exceptionally large scale. Retailers and brand managers may be reticent to introduce products that are marketed as sustainable because prior research identifies a discrepancy between what consumers say they intend to purchase (via survey) and what they do at retail (via purchases). This research shows that despite this gap, products that have sustainable claims on their package are outperforming growth of conventional products in respective categories
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