Fishburn Hedges

14.04.2010

In this session we spoke to a group of ethical shoppers to find out what influences them when choosing morally-sourced products.

Despite the economic downturn, the UK’s ethical consumption is increasing.  The difficult economic climate is reducing consumer spend but as the market for green products continues to grow, eco-fatigue seems a long way off yet.

Attitudes towards company ethics and CSR

A company’s corporate responsibility matters to people.  When consumers know of company’s CSR program, they feel secure in their choice and reassured by the brand’s wider ethical values.

Tangible product benefits are still important - superior taste, quality and health benefits are also clear reasons as to why people decide to buy ethical products.

The most noticeable fact was that the focus group perceived a company’s CSR strategy to be a potential differentiator over direct category competitors.

If two companies sell the same product of equal quality, product preference is decided by the company’s ethical agenda.

Scepticism remains high

Ethically aware consumers will seek out the information they need to feel satisfied that the product they are buying is morally sourced. 

This means that cover ups or false claims about their ethical values may endanger their reputation more than if they had no ethical awareness.

People are still very sceptical about the motivation for a company to act ethically. 

Consumers are demanding honesty and transparency from businesses so that they can trust them.

Long-term commitment

Once corporations are seen to have a bad ethical reputation it will take a long time for this to be rectified. 

A positive ethical turnaround is a long-term commitment with few immediate results while the company tries to gain the trust of consumers.

What does this mean?

There is still a lot of scepticism about ethical motivation.  It is, therefore, important that all companies have a basis of truth in all the claims they make about principled activities.

Only by being specific about what they are doing, how they are doing it and where they estimate to be in future can companies expect customers to reward them with greater trust and, hopefully, greater loyalty.

Transparency and honesty are crucial – you must give consumers a chance to interact with your brand. 

The success of an ethical program comes from engaging in a dialogue with these consumers and responding to their views.