Post-Pandemic Consumption: Conscious living becomes a mass mindset.
Follow the second part of our Post-Pandemic Superhero series, the consumer charged for 2021. In this article, we focus on her consumption behavior: green and transparent buying. For the first part of this series, check our intro article.
To help you start 2021 at best, we are presenting her in a (free) Webinar on the 20th of January at 4pm CET. Register here!
Apart from routines, ambitions and motivations, consumption habits of the new consumer have also been affected: conscious living has become a mass mindset, breaking out of the niche. Where climate change was quite abstract, a mass threat to global health, added to natural disasters with no precedents have triggered consumers to rethink their consumption. Conscious living is now ready to be adopted at scale.
Again, the Generation-Z will a big role in this scenario in the years to come: they have the highest demands for sustainability, and an increasing buyer strength, once they started entering the workforce since 2013; With every new generation, the search for sustainability strengthens - as 62% of Generation Z prefer to buy from sustainable brands. 54% of them also state that they are willing to spend an incremental 10% or more on sustainable products, followed by 50% of Millennials, 34% of Generation X, and 23% of Baby Boomers. This sustainable & responsible mindset is being adopted in the new generation’s ways of communication such as social media and gaming, helping to transmit and foster responsible behaviors and concepts in an interesting way.
A great example surfaced in the end of this January (2021), when Microsoft released its annual sustainability report, and its sibling company and popular game Minecraft, turned into something interactive. Called “Sustainable City,” a free new map designed to educate players on how Microsoft’s sustainability goals translate to the real world. With six major lessons, it cover topics like sustainable food production, water outflow and treatment, and even venturing on a landfill to learn what happens to non-recyclable materials.
The second item high on the purchase decision is consciousness and trust in brands & suppliers. We relate these aspects in purposeful consumption: the high expectation of the post-pandemic superhero that the brands she purchases from is really walking their own talk. In the next 2 sections, we will dive deeper into the PPSH’s consumption behaviors: green and purposeful buying.
“62% of Generation Z, who will begin entering the workforce this year, prefer to buy from sustainable brands.
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Image: Accenture
What does this change mean for 2021? The Post-Pandemic Superhero shops in more mindful ways: striving to limit food waste, shop more cost consciously, buying local and purchasing more sustainable options. And that is a signal of higher expectations on more refurbished and circular products/services.
#1 Green Consumption
Rent; Re-furbish; Zero Waste. Circular business models have their (profitable) lift-off in 2021.
Too Good To Go helps everyday people fight food waste in their local communities by connecting them to restaurants and grocery stores with surplus meals and ingredients through an app. Too Good to Go’s international success is a testament to a change in behavior towards waste, sustainability, and local-love.
Image: Too Good to Go
Closing the loop is now seen as an advantage, and a revenue stream. Refurbished products alone in 2021 are sought by more than only price-driven consumers. COVID-19 has surely accelerated the discussion about sustainability. In fact, according to Morningstar, only in the first half of 2020, net inflows into ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) funds in the US reached $21 billion, outperforming non-ESG guided stocks, reaching almost the same amount for the whole of 2019.
Zero Waste movement. In Canada there is the phenomenon of motivated group of consumers who are very active in online forums where they share and discuss zero-waste lifestyle tips. One popular Facebook group, “Zero Waste Toronto”, has approached 11,000 users who share resources (zero waste tips, recipes, etc.) and shop at local stores that support their environmentally-conscious efforts, such as Unboxed Market, Urban Bulk & Refill, Karma Co- operative, and refill shops for bath and body products such as Saponetti Refill Depot and Bare Market. A report from Accenture found 64% of Canadian consumers want to be offered the option of packaging-free products and deliveries.
Rent. The access logic instead of owning also took solid hold, with access platforms like Peerby, where neighbors announce place little used items like Drilling machines & camping tents, and earn a rent per day. Often under the umbrella of the Sharing Economy, this practice suffered a hit on credibility, especially when talking about transport and home renting such as Airbnb, Lyft, Uber.
Industry highlight: Apple going refurbished
For a long time Apple has had a policy of cash back on returning its products, but it recently started offering refurbished ones as a new sales strategy, enriching its sales & playing in this new market.
The change at scale of brands like Apple into the refurbished market is a sign that not only is possible to offer more sustainable option: it is desirable and strategically smart to do so.
Image: Apple
When looking at sharing the owneship of products, the image is more positive. Today we see a hybrid new ownership & rental service of lease cars through the european Lynk & Co, where ther is a primary user/car leaser, and he can sub-rent to authorized users. Even in a turbulent time, the Sharing economy is poised to reach 335$Billion globally, in 2025.
Refurbished. Buying used & repaired through global big retailers like Amazon has gained traction, but also big brands are adopting this strategy. Used smartphones sales are nearing double digit-growth in 2020, a rapid ascencion. So buying local is not the only aspect consumers are looking at. As a matter of fact, Apple and Amazon have started providing refurbished products. Electronics lead this change, but if you think about clothes (and the DIY aspect of it) there is more than that. Once a lesser priority, there is real value in applying strategic planning to this area of business. The refurbished market is rich with opportunity and can affect the perception of a brand and growth opportunities in the secondary market.
What does it mean for 2021? In 2021, the effort to closing the take-make-waste loop has multiple benefits. It offers (1) a new revenue stream, (2) a desirable product market with a growing pool of interested customers, and (3) positive brand value to be built from sustainable practices.
#2 Transparent Consumption
The Post-Pandemic Superhero sees the good and bad side of brands - and she will keep your brand in check.
Image: SproutSocial
Fake news. Data breaches. Privacy concerns. In our hyper-connected and hyper-complicated world, there’s always a question of whether what you see online is accurate or the whole story. People consume information with a healthy dose of skepticism and brands are fighting an uphill battle to earn the trust of today’s consumer.
Consumers’ transparency expectations grow daily, and long-term relationships inspire long-term trust.
Consumers consider brand transparency an important factor and attribute it to social media. Heightened transparency expectations on social lead to significant benefits and risks. Consumers are likely to consider brands that are transparent on social for their next purchase. However, a lack of transparency on social leaves people likely to take their business to a competitor. Social amplifies the impact of transparency. Which can create challenges for brands, but offers even bigger rewards.
The fashion industry has also been affected by the public scrutiny, in terms of transparency. The current health and economic crisis have aggravated issues that were already present in the industry (including overproduction, how to dispose of excess inventory, trade conditions). Public scrutiny on the relationship between brands and suppliers has pushed brands to act more responsibly.
Reports of retailers cancelling orders and delaying payments to suppliers in the wake of Covid-19 has brought how brands manage their relationships with supply chain partners into the spotlight, pushing many companies, from H&M to Primark, to announce they are going to honor their commitments.
As a brand, using transparency can work as a positive catalyzer, but if you don’t intend to act on your promises, it will backfire straight back and end up being a massive marketing & positioning fail.
Industry Highlight: Pepsi
The most famous example of a brand’s purpose gone wrong is Pepsi’s 2017 ad, released amid the Black Lives Matter movement (nbcNews, 2017). Pepsi said the ad “was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding”. Unfortunately for them, the world saw it for what it was. An inauthentic attempt to leverage a sensitive issue for commercial benefit. The backlash was swift and widespread which resulted in Pepsi pulling the commercial the next day and issuing an apology.
Image: Thebrandgym
Takeaways:
A brand’s purpose adds value not just to the lives of customers but to society as a whole.
Having a brand purpose can help build a more emotional relationship between a brand and
its consumer, which in turn, helps to boost sales as well as loyalty.A unique and powerful brand purpose can set a company apart from the crowd.
To kickstart 2021, ask yourself the following questions:
The new consumers are more mindful of what they’re buying, striving to limit food waste and shopping more cost consciously. They want to know more about how their food is made, where the ingredients come from and the culture behind a product or company – a trend that has accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Choice and information empower them, leading to having greater expectations - and demand - for transparency and purpose from brands. Therefore, as a brand, have you considered asking yourself the following:
Have you thought about providing sustainable options to your customers or exploring new business models?
Are you involving analysis techniques to assess environmental impacts associated with the stages of your product’s or service’s life? From the raw material to the disposal or recycling.
Are you keeping transparency in mind when posting on social platforms?
Are you seeking out a purpose because you want your consumers to think you are like-minded and buy your products or is there actually an element of substance behind it, which represents an authentic manifestation of everything your target audience holds dear?
Want the full insight? Join the Post-Pandemic Superhero Webinar.
On the 20th of January at 4pm CET, meet us online to understand the full profile of this customer, learn how to align your product, services and marketing initiatives to draw business value from engaging with her.
Get to know her before she walks out of sight!
For more information, check our pages below:
Have you met your consumer of 2021?
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