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Customers in a packaging-free shop: Something really is going on
Photo: Christian Beutler / dpa
The pandemic has increased interest in sustainable consumer goods among German citizens. Three quarters of consumers now also have criteria such as social justice, climate change or animal welfare in mind when shopping for food, cosmetics and cleaning utensils. This is shown by a study by the management consultancy McKinsey among 5000 consumers in German-speaking countries. 51 percent of those surveyed are willing to spend more money on sustainably and ecologically manufactured products. Before the pandemic, this value was about ten percentage points lower.
According to McKinsey, the pandemic is making young women in particular aware of the effects of their consumption, and older men tend to be more difficult to reach.
The so-called attitude-behavior gap should also be taken into account in this study, i.e. the fact that consumers like to be willing to change in surveys, but then shop at the counter as before, says study leader Sebastian Gatzer.
"Nevertheless, we can see that something is really going on right now."
Sustainably labeled products would grow significantly faster than the average, especially among young people.
Although they had less income available, they questioned their consumption much more, according to Gatzer.
“And they'll soon make up the largest group of buyers.
That shows us that the sustainability trend is also sustainable. "
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