Sustainability as a Selling Point

Many businesses today seem to be making a shift towards environmental sustainability or simply giving back to the community in some way. Although there are many cases where this is done out of legitimate concern for a certain cause or issue, there are also many cases where this is done simply as a sales tactic. According to a 2015 Nielson Study, globally, around 66% of consumers are willing to pay more for a product they feel is sustainable. Furthermore, 72% of those aged 15-20 claim to be willing to pay more for sustainable goods, and as these eventual consumers age and increase in purchasing power the importance of sustainability will only continue to increase. Sustainability has proven to be an effective sales and marketing tactic, regardless of how genuine the company’s intentions. A company may have no interest in pursuing environmental sustainability outside of the profitable image that it gives the company. Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of the effects their purchases have on the world, and companies as a result are reacting both for the futureproofing of their business as well as to increase trust among their customers. It will be interesting to see if the trend toward sustainability continues to impact how companies take responsibility, or if once the financial benefits cease to improve the companies drift back toward a less sensitive approach.

A 2015 Nielson study also showed that recently companies that make efforts to act more sustainable have seen an average increase in sales of 4% vs the 1% increase among companies that make little to no effort. This average increase alone gives companies a reason to draw their attention to this area of increasing concern.