The TWC Trends “Do good, feel good” report revealed that over 70% of consumers are concerned about environmental and sustainability issues. Whilst the youngest cohort, Gen Z (aged 18-24) were most likely to ‘strongly agree’ with this statement, overall agreement (‘agree’ + ‘strongly agree’) was highest amongst Boomers (aged 55+). Boomers were also more likely to consider themselves more concerned about environmental issues that they were three years ago, suggesting that older consumers are ‘catching up’ with their younger counterparts in terms of concerns about sustainability.
What is also clear from the report is that sustainability concerns are already affecting where consumers eat out with 12% of respondents identifying with ‘choosing places which are focusing on sustainability and environmental issues’ as a key driver of outlet choice when eating out. This increased to one in five 18–24-year-olds.
Sarah Coleman, Communications Director at TWC comments:
“This is a really important issue for consumers and one that is going to rise in importance or possibly become an expectation”.
Coleman comments: “Given that sustainability is increasingly a concern for all age groups, we might expect this proportion to increase amongst older consumers as well. What is clear is that consumers are increasingly voting with their feet when it comes to supporting those businesses who demonstrate their sustainability credentials.”
“Key to this will be identifying which elements of sustainability are most relevant and important to their customers and aligning their communications accordingly. We suspect carbon offset programmes, such as those announced by Greene King and Daylesford, will rise in prominence.”
This research on “Do good, feel good” is the fourth and final part in a series of new mini reports from TWC Trends. The TWC Trends Autumn Edition 2021 series is based on the views and sentiments of over 1,000 consumers across the UK. The research was conducted between 5-8 November 2021.
The TWC Trends Autumn Edition 2021 can be found here: https://twcgroup.net/twc-trends-autumn-edition-2021-part-4/