Giles Cadman 
Did they really need to conduct a study to prove that customers prefer sustainable companies? It’s what we all knew, but at least now there’s proof!
According to a new report from Nielsen, sustainable products are generally outperforming the growth rate of total products in their respective categories. But is it really that surprising that customers prefer sustainable companies?
There has been a huge shift towards people knowing what goes into their products, how they’re made, and even a longing to know the people behind the product. I think it’s simply humans trying to learn how to be human again.
The study looked at coffee, chocolate, and bath products
The report, called, How and Why Sustainability Is Gaining Momentum with Customers looked at three of the most common and fast-moving consumer goods: coffee, chocolate, and bath products. These items are all very different, which is why Nielsen chose to focus on them for the study.
For all three categories, dollar sales of items with the specific claims grew twice as fast as the weighted average dollar growth of the three categories compared. But what’s more is that different product claims for each category also helped to increase a customer’s preference. For example, products with environmental claims sold the fastest, followed by the absence of artificial ingredients, and then by fair trade.
Customers love sustainable products. What does this mean for companies?
This is good news for the environment because it demonstrates that generally, our way of thinking about products is changing. It’s also good news for customers in general: I firmly believe the sustainable product is the better one.
In the industries that the Cadman Capital Group operate in, words like all natural, fair trade and organic are terms that are on the rise. But, they do mean very different things. Saying a product is sustainable could simply mean that the product is sourced responsibly, for example, or that it uses recyclable packaging.
Cadman Capital Group and sustainability
In my opinion, sustainability just makes sense. It’s why the team is so passionate about building sustainable shellfish hatcheries, building community-based businesses, and adding organic wines to the collection at Cadman Fine Wines.
It’s important to understand that our customers now prioritize sustainable options so we can better serve them.
The bottom line
Sustainability is no longer a few niche companies taking up a tiny slice of the supermarket. Your brand growth will soon depend on it!
Giles Cadman is Chairman of The Cadman Capital Group, a group of cohesive, complementary companies, operating in the international trade, retail, leisure, and investment markets. Learn more about Giles.
