Buying behaviour is changing and the relationship between global brands and the customers who support them is being transformed by the growing emergence of the conscientious consumer.
Last year in the UK alone, consumer spending on ethical products, across 27 sectors, reached £83.3 billion, according to the Ethical Consumer Markets Report. Mintel research recently reported that 56 percent of US consumers stop buying from companies they believe are unethical. Purchase choices are increasingly influenced by environmental and ethical considerations as consumers seek assurance about their purchase from the sourcing of raw materials to manufacturing and through to point of sale.
Information about supply chains, materials and processes can be an inspiring part of a brand and a product’s story. However, brands are faced by consumer scepticism about their commitment to ethical trade and responsible sourcing.
The new White Paper investigates how ethical consumption trends have influenced consumer behaviour, investment priorities, national and international regulation, and how brand owners are responding to calls for the application of universal ethical trade and responsible sourcing standards. It includes a Foreword from Dr David Bek, a Reader in Sustainable Economies based at the Research Centre for Business in Society at Coventry University (UK), who shares his view on how high quality auditing and the implementation of pathways to improvement at sites of production, can mitigate the very real risks which threaten not only businesses’ licence to operate but the very foundations of the global economy as we have come to experience it. Such an approach can give consumers the reassurance they seek and workers the protection they deserve.
Get a copy of the white paper: How Ethical Trade Standards and Responsible Sourcing are driving consumer behaviour and investment decisions.