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Being a conscious consumer means, especially for younger generations, choosing sustainable companies and products with a low environmental impact.
Have you ever wondered What is the opinion of consumers on sustainable choices in the company? If some generations of buyers do not easily change their consumption based on these factors, it is the younger ones who push towards conscious and sustainable consumption. Millennials and Gen Z are, according to a lot of research, influenced (and sometimes frightened) by the ecoanxia* that guides them both in their life choices and, above all, in their purchases.
Here's how attract the conscious consumer, communicate in a transparent manner and show that yes, you deserve his trust because your choices are concrete and sustainable.
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Consumers and sustainability, some facts
The relationship between consumers and sustainability has changed radically in recent years. Attention to climate change and its consequences has, on the one hand, generated ecoanxiety, but, on the other hand, I push younger people to conscious and sustainable consumption. According to the 7th National Observatory on Sustainable Lifestyle, 21% of people are willing to spend more to buy products that they consider ecological or linked to virtuous companies.
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The sector most influenced by this choice is that of Made in Italy, together with cosmetics and personal care products. Why this special attention? why in the world of cosmetics and personal hygiene, the need for sustainable products doubles:
- The consumer tries to reduce their impact on their daily lives, and doing so during moments of self-care and hygiene is a simple way to introduce it into their daily rituals.
- Products that are applied to the skin, such as cosmetics and personal care products, are considered less harmful if more natural, with the consequent search for natural ingredients and environmentally friendly companies.
The same research also pointed out that for 30% of the interviewees Is a company sustainable if it is carbon neutral. Hence the need not only to reduce total CO₂ emissions, but also to communicate in a transparent and accessible way the choices towards a more environmentally friendly production model.
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The conscious consumer: millennials and Gen Z compared
Why are the two generations of young adults (Millennials, born in the period 1981-1996, and Gen Z, born from 1997 to 2009) so attentive to sustainability? Care must be taken when we talk about a conscious' young 'consumer in general. In fact, some of the older Millennials have crossed the age of 40 and They are the group of customers with the highest attention to conscious and sustainable consumption. They are couples and sometimes even parents, they have created their own families and have lived alone for at least 10-15 years, and have experienced the biggest economic and social crises of the post-war period.
It is for this reason that they are attentive to their consumption: they know they have to save but at the same time have become aware of the damage that the consumption of their parents and grandparents has caused to the planet. This is, in a nutshell, the generation that pushed for SDGs (the Sustainable Development Goals) and of the most sensitive to the idea of leaving a better world to future generations.
The next generation, in Gen Z, is the generation of young adults. Many of them are at university or have just left it, they know in depth the problems of climate change and they demand concrete actions from companies that are transmitted in an honest and transparent manner. Taken together, they are therefore the demographic group that not only seeks answers to react to the climate crisis, but is also more willing to take actions and make conscious consumption choices.
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Millennials, sustainability and greenwashing
As a large, small or medium-sized company your goal is winning the trust of younger generations without doing what we call greenwashing. Empty promises and symbolic actions are not enough, the conscious consumer wants to have stronger guarantees of the company's real interest in reducing its impact and creating value for society.
To attract this audience and to truly become a company active in the fight against climate change, what you must do is calculate, reduce, offset CO₂ emissions and communicate in a clear and accessible way how you do it. Not sure where to start? Calculate your corporate carbon footprint and get a personalized report.
This will help you:
- improving brand awareness among younger consumers;
- spread a culture of conscious and sustainable consumption among your customers;
- take a step closer to creating a truly green production environment.
Contact us to discover everything we can do to move, together, towards decarbonization.
