Various surveys undertaken in Europe and in the USA in last decade show, that majority of people are concerned about the state of environment and think, that governments and people should take action to protect it. However, there has been a huge gap between a number of people who find the matter important and a number of people, who buy green products. Why does the opinion not reflect in shopping behaviour?
According to a study[1], there are several barriers that prevent people from buying green products.
1. Lack of availability of these products in supermarkets: „I cannot waste 2 hours of my life every week to purchase toilet paper or napkins. I simply buy tissue paper products at the closest store“
2. Higher price: „I care about the environment and am willing to pay slightly more, but not a lot more.“
3. Lack of information in mass media: „I do not even know that something like environmentally friendly tissue paper products exist. I want to be aware that these products exist and about their positive effects on the environment.“
The study was focused on people with positive attitude to the environment and on factors that influence their decision making to buy environmentally friendly tissue paper products (produced from recycled paper or sustainably grown forests, paper that is not bleached). Production of tissue paper is one of the main causes of deforestation and final product cannot be recycled after use. Around 93.000 km2 of forest (area around the size of Portugal) are destroyed annually to obtain raw material, but people do not assign significance to this fact, when they go shopping.
There were underlying factors hidden behind the conclusions made by the participants. The perception of lack of availability was influenced by lack of time or desire to shop in general. Many times this group of products is available in supermarkets, but customers are not aware of it. They are placed on the same shelf as conventional products and as a result it is not easy for people to distinguish them from the “non-green” options. Situational placement in the store also influence the perception of higher price that is then compared with all the products of the same group.
Lack of information provided by employees in the shop and mass media has been observed as another factor that influence consumer´s behaviour. It is not clear how much is saved on the environment and why certain products are a good option compared to the others. Consumers are unaware about making an environmental choice and therefore they are unwilling to pay more and decide for green products.
People are generally reluctant to conduct extensive information searches, particularly when frequently purchased items are involved, when people dedicate little time for shopping or are loyal to traditional non-green brands. The greater the change in consumption habits, the less likely are people to switch to green alternative.
[1] Camilla Barbarossa, Alberto Pastore, (2015) “Why environmentally conscious consumers do not purchase green products: A cognitive mapping approach”, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 18 Issue: 2, pp.188-209, https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-06-2012-0030