There is no longer any doubt, companies that have focused on sustainability have a better perception and success with the consumer. All this is reflected in a study by the consulting firm Nielsen where 64% of consumers confess that the actions of sustainability influence their purchase decision.
According to the Nielsen Digital Consumer Survey 2022 study, 63% of consumers buy organic products in the month and 67% of them do so at least twice a month. These values become, in this way, a great reason for buying organic products. One of the reluctance to not buy more organic products, according to the study, is the lack of information and transparency of the companies, although the main cause, with 55%, continues to be the higher price than the conventional product.
For all these reasons, more and more companies are developing sustainability plans for the product, its processes and packaging. Many brands are becoming interested in using, selling and making organic products in their portfolio. Also the use of social responsibility and integration plans knowing that they are a factor that increasingly influences commercial success.
Sustainability success leads to the use of “Green washing”
Undoubtedly, one of the most important issues to increase the production and sale of sustainable products is communication and it is at this point where there are big problems. There are companies that communicate what it is not and others that do great actions for sustainability but do not communicate them or simply do it wrong.
All this has led the BEUC entity to raise the alarm for the misuse of sustainability as a sales argument. In this sense, they give the example of the use of words such as 'carbon neutral', 'CO2 neutral', 'carbon positive', 'carbon neutral certified' when there is no real control of what is behind it, how the calculation has been made and how is compensated. For all these reasons, the European Union has promised to address the issue in the coming weeks.
