“Sustainably-oriented packaging is becoming a consumer expectation. It is one of a growing number of issues driven by ethics, economics and environmentalism. Economic imperatives, as well as possible greater regulation, mean that more brands need to consider sustainable packaging in order to adapt their present approach,” commented Matthew Adams, Consumer Analyst at Datamonitor and author of the report: Sustainable Packaging Trends: Consumer Perspectives and Product Opportunities.
The results of Datamonitor’s consumer survey in the second half of 2008 showed within selected countries of Europe between 39% and 67% of consumers felt that packaging design has a medium or high level of influence over their choice. The highest rate of influence was found in France with consumers in Sweden also demonstrating high levels of importance.
Of the seven countries in Western Europe surveyed by Datamonitor, the UK was the country where the greatest proportion of survey respondents showed high levels of concern about over packaging of products in the household goods market. Consumers in France and Spain also showed high levels of concern. “This is a threat to unresponsive producers in the household goods market if consumers choose to react to continued excessive packaging with their own pro-active, pre-emptive methods,” said Matthew Adamas.
In 2008, 51% of French and Spanish respondents agreed they seek alternative products if they deem the one they were considering buying is excessively packaged in any way. This proportion is slightly ahead of the rest of Western Europe and markedly higher proportion than in the US.
