News

Report revealed that shoppers are willing to spend more on sustainable products.

Of the consumers polled, the authors of the report said “nearly three-quarters of the consumer respondents value product sustainability over brand name” and nearly all (94 percent) of the retailers surveyed “believe the opposite, saying that brand name would be more important to consumers than sustainability.”

New research from First Insight and the Wharton Baker Retailing Center reveals a disconnect between retail executives and consumers in regard to shopping preferences — especially sustainably produced goods.

The survey found that a “profound sustainability knowledge gap exists between these two cohorts, which presents opportunities for retailers not only to bolster their reputations and enhance consumer loyalty but also to increase profits.” The crux of the findings is that retailers “were surprised to learn that consumers are willing to spend more for sustainable brands.”

The report follows another survey from First Insight and the Wharton Baker Retailing Center demonstrating “that Gen Z leads the way in sustainability and has an outsize impact on older generations, especially their Generation X parents.” That prior research found that Gen Z’s influence extends to shopping behaviors, “including in resale, with sustainable-first purchase decisions becoming more prevalent among all generations.”

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