When we first ran the "Green Christmas?" study back in 2019, we saw encouraging evidence that the majority of shoppers were trying to mitigate against the frivolity of the Season by introducing at least some sustainable checks and balances into their Christmas shopping.
Since then, of course, much has changed. On the one hand, we’ve seen the continued efforts of brands and retailers to improve their ESG credentials and practices which, in theory, should make it easier for shoppers to access sustainable goods. On the other hand, the world has suffered a global pandemic and serious geopolitical unrest - both contributing to what has become the most severe cost of living crisis since the 1970’s. So, how ‘green’ did Christmas 2023 turn out to be?
Well, we were pleasantly surprised to find that Christmas retained a green(ish) hue for many shoppers, but it will come as no surprise that the hue wasn’t quite as intense as we saw in 2019. Whilst as many shoppers indicated that their Christmas shopping had been moderately or significantly influenced by sustainability considerations this year (67% vs. 70% in 2019) - far fewer claimed significant influence (14% vs. 26% in 2019).
But, what was it that put the breaks on? Beyond a fundamental lack of desire to act, we found 3 contributing factors which led many to decide that the cost of a green Christmas was simply too high:
Financial cost
It’s safe to say that the cost of living crisis bore heavy responsibility for the declining influence of sustainability considerations:
There is, of course, some inevitability about these findings, but digging deeper revealed more nuanced insights:
Our survey included an AI powered conversational element so that we could get beyond the tick box answers. This revealed a surprising degree of regret, or guilt when shoppers explained why they hadn’t considered sustainability factors. For many, their choice not to incorporate ethical and environmental factors into their Christmas purchase decisions was not driven by a lack of motivation but by a lack of ability due to cost factors1.
In expressing their regret, these shoppers were signposting a desire to be more sustainable in their shopping decisions, and many were exacerbated that not more was being done to help them do so affordably. So, it’s clearly incumbent upon brands and retailers to help more shoppers to achieve this goal.
Whilst improving affordability is certainly not the only approach to encouraging sustainable shopping behaviours, it would certainly be appreciated by today’s shoppers and has to be a consideration for businesses that seek to credibly promote themselves as environmentally responsible organizations.
Furthermore, demonstrating that you understand how ‘unsustainable behaviours’ can often mask latent ‘sustainable motivations’ will surely win the hearts and minds of shoppers, not just a (potentially short lived) higher share of their wallets.
Behavioural Cost
Despite improvements in the availability of sustainable choices over recent times, suitable sustainable gifts remained hard to find for 2 in 5 (41%)of our shoppers, rising to nearly a half (48%)of family lifestage shoppers shopping for their kids.
Whilst some of the perceived difficulties of sustainable gifting could be down to “greenwashing” doubts, this isn’t something we investigated deeply in our research. But it was abundantly clear that friction points were frequently encountered by many shoppers trying to have a “greener Christmas”, resulting in the exact opposite outcome. And just to be clear, this applies across the board, be it gifting, provisioning for the festive table, or decorating the home.
Any behavioural scientist will tell you that behaviour change is much more likely if it is made easy. We humans are blessed with a brain that, for survival reasons, places energy efficiency top of the list when it comes to jobs to be done; this means the less mental or physical effort we have to expend in achieving a JTBD the better. Earlier, we talked about how ‘ability to act’ is a fundamental precursor to behaviour change… in this context, reducing behaviour cost by making it easy for shoppers to find and select suitable sustainable options is as important as limiting the financial cost when it comes to encouraging ‘green’ shopping behaviours.
So, brands and retailers need to look across the shopper journey to find ways to remove friction points, and to add clearly communicated enablers in order to encourage sustainable choices at this important trading time (and beyond). This isn’t just about making sustainable products easily accessible and appealing, it’s also about making it easy for shoppers to go from trigger to transaction in the most sustainable way: delivery options, product and ‘parcel’ packaging, provenance etc. all have a role to play.
Psycho-emotional costs
The status quo cognitive bias explains how we often prefer things to stay the same. It stems from our natural human tendency to resist change and to fear potential losses more than potential gains; put another way, it offers a sense of the comfort, predictability and social conformity that many of us value at Christmas and other celebratory times.
As such, it’s no surprise that despite M&S and JLP encouraging us to throwaway our traditions in 2023, many of us resisted wholesale changes. Nearly a half of our shoppers (46%) said that some traditions will never change regardless of possible environmental impact. Moreover, it is telling that this sentiment was highest amongst family lifestage shoppers (55%), many of whom evidently felt compelled to preserve the nostalgic link with their own childhoods at this time.
All that said, this status quo bias was weaker in 2023 versus 2019 (46% vs. 59% respectively). Perhaps M&S or JLP’s advertising had some habit changing impact after all? More likely, we suspect, that the enforced changes of COVID times and the reappraisals of priorities brought about by our current crises have weakened the power of traditions… for now!
Regardless, traditions remained fundamental for a sizeable chunk of shoppers, suggesting that we should be doing more to help shoppers maintain those much loved traditions in a more sustainable (as well as affordable and accessible) way.
Summary
The overall message for brands and retailers is that it simply isn’t enough to talk a good game when it comes to encouraging shoppers to shop sustainably; it isn’t even enough to settle on simply offering products and services that are sustainable in one way or another! Those products and services need to be easy for shoppers to find… to be affordable…and they need to deliver the same or better in respect of functional and psycho-emotional efficacy (the latter especially at Christmas time).
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...................
Notes:
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Methodology
· The data was gathered from a nationally representative sample of >1,000 adults accessed via Yonder Data Solutions’ panel.
· The interview included a mix of pre-coded questions as well as an AI powered conversational element.
· Fieldwork was conducted as close as possible to Christmas so we could capture what really happened vs. what people thought might happen / or had intended to happen: 20/21st December, 2023
