Unveiling Sustainable Consumer Insights: A Deep Dive into U.S. Trends and Eco-Conscious Segmentation
The 2024 State of Sustainability in America Report, now in its 22nd year, measures and describes the marketplace for sustainable products and services, the consumers who use them, consumers’ expectations of corporate behavior, and attitudes toward environmental and social issues. In addition, it uncovers consumer motivations and the challenges they encounter in their pursuit to become increasingly aligned with a more sustainable lifestyle.
While challenges may exist regarding the relevance of sustainability in a world which is defined by increasing global unrest, social inequities, historically high inflation and concern over future pandemics, many of the latest findings provide evidence that sustainable ideals and attitudes have taken on a higher level of acceleration and importance in consumers’ mindset. Even further, data results show that consumers expect other entities such as governments and companies to step up and ensure the progress that has been made in sustainable initiatives will continue, even during trying times, in order to protect the very existence of the planet and its inhabitants.
Consumers are also making purchasing decisions based on a growing set of values-based qualities from toxin-free to fair trade. Therefore, the need for an understanding of consumer drivers that affect behavior patterns has never been stronger.
This report uncovers the insights into what may lie ahead and provide perspective on the trends within the sustainability market from a consumer point of view.
Some of the Sustainable topics covered in the report:
- Consumer insights regarding the health of the planet and what issues resonate most with them
- Concerns about global warming and planetary survival
- How segments within society view sustainability differently and what motivates this differentiation
- Behaviors consumers are adopting and challenges they have to live more sustainably
- Consumer attitudes toward plastic waste and packaging
- Interest in corporate initiatives and impact on purchase
- Growth of natural and organic product use
- and much more!
Sustainability Segmentation Model Methodology
Development of the Institute’s unique and proprietary segmentation model began with evaluating over 170 different attitudinal and behavioral variables, later narrowed to approximately 21. A k-means clustering method was used. Cluster centers were defined as dense regions in the multivariate space based on a k-means segmentation of the attitudinal variables from the Institute’s Sustainability Consumer Trends Database survey.
This segmentation can be used to identify and predict segment membership as part of a quantitative extrapolative analysis of future consumer behavior.
Table of Contents
1. U.S. Sustainability Consumer Trends Database Overview2. Other Natural Marketing Institute Databases Used in Report3. Definitions of Groups in Report4. Introduction
