Full article by Zoe Wakem can be viewed at Odgers Interim
Customers are increasingly becoming more mindful of their purchasing habits, being attentive to the sustainability of the product, the company, and the supply chain. Gen Z are being identified as a key driver of this evolving consumer demand as the generation has acquired buying power. This key customer base is most influenced by sustainability, brand name, and company mission. Facilitated by social media, there now exists a much closer brand-consumer relationship. It has led to consumers investing more heavily in companies with strong brand narratives around climate change prevention and sustainability. Recent research from the Stern Center for Sustainable Business found that products marketed as sustainable grew 5.6 times faster than those that were not.
Sustainable sourcing is a growing trend. The Body Shop who has high ambitions to source its plastics through a partnership with ‘Plastics for Change’. They hope to support a group of waste-pickers in India, collecting waste plastic for recycling in what is predicted to be converted into three million shampoo and conditioner bottles. These examples within FMCG show the increasing innovation across the sector to focus on repurposing what has otherwise been discarded.
