Words: Charlotte Elton
ETHICAL SHOPPING
Do you know where your breakfast cereal comes from? How about your brand-new jumper? Or the metals in your iPhone charger?
Ethical shopping is on the rise. Consumers increasingly want their money to make a positive impact – and are quick to shun businesses that fall short.
Eight in 10 shoppers are more likely to support brands that “reflect their beliefs”, a survey commissioned by Big Issue has revealed.
Some 70% of the poll’s 2,000 respondents said they were more likely to buy products from brands actively promoting their ethical and sustainable credentials, and 86% agreed that companies have a responsibility to set a good example in being environmentally aware.
Morality matters to shoppers and businesses should take note, said Allyson Stewart-Allen, a retail expert and CEO of International Marketing Partners. “Increasingly, consumers – particularly Gen Z – are concerned with honesty, transparency, integrity, and that the deeds and the words line up,” she said.
“Do you use child labour? Are you using forced labour? How polluting is your company? These things all matter.”
Conscientious consumption is nothing new. In the 18th century, abolitionist campaigners boycotted sugar produced by slaves, torpedoing sales by a third. In the 1890s, the Salvation Army launched a fair trading tea company; dozens of alternative trade organisations followed.
But the past three decades have seen shopping with a conscience move to the mainstream.
One in three UK consumers claim to have stopped buying certain products due to ethical or sustainability-related concerns, a 2023 Deloitte report found.
In a 2020 McKinsey US consumer survey, more than 60% said they’d pay more for a product advertised as sustainable.
“The ethical shopping movement is hugely significant,” said Rob Harrison, co-editor of Ethical Consumer(EC) magazine.
“[It] has, over the 35 years we’ve been reporting on it, helped to transform most consumer markets in the west.”
Since 1999, the magazine’s EC Ethical Markets report has tracked year-on-year growth for ethical products and services in the UK. Over this time period, consumer spending on ethical products has increased from £17 billion to over £141bn in 2023.
It’s partly been driven by the enthusiasm of young shoppers. Around 83% of Gen Z consumers want brands to take a stance on social issues, Merkle’s 2022 Next Ge
