Cost of living forcing consumers to be more sustainable

Consumers are concentrating on making their lives more sustainable but becoming less concerned about the environment as the cost-of-living crisis forces changes in behaviour and takes the focus away from climate change, a new piece of research suggests.

People are also continuing to rein in their spending, with 94 per cent now worried about the rise of living costs as they continue to navigate inflation, according to the 12th edition of the EY Future Consumer Index (FCI), which is published today (Tuesday).

The index reveals that cost of living and financial and health pressures are taking precedence with consumers, while “more altruistic concerns for the planet or society are not being prioritised to the same degree”, according to Colette Devey of EY Ireland.

She noted that while people “continue to focus on value and are cost-conscious we are also seeing that some groups are continuing to prioritise holidays, with almost four in 10 higher-income consumers intending to spend more in this area over the coming months”.

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The global study suggests that a focus on affordability is “helping to drive sustainable behaviours”, with 67 per cent of consumers indicating that they prefer to repair rather than replace items and 79 per cent saying they are recycling or repurposing products after use in order to save money.

Ms Devey said that people were cutting back “at the experiential and the luxury end but there is a difference between cohorts with lower-income consumers changing their purchasing patterns quite substantially and the higher-income consumers who feel still that they’re able to increase their spending on holidays”.

She told The Irish Times that one in two people believe things “will be much more positive in three years’ time with people starting to feel that we have hit a plateau and while the next few months will remain difficult into the future [things are] much more positive”.

She pointed to the “trade off between sustainability and health”, and noted how last October when the previous wave of this survey was published she was “talking about the conscious consumer and the fact that sustainability was very front of mind. Now people are behaving in a sustainable way but it’s being driven by the need to be cost-conscious, it’s nearly being sustainable by default.

“I think 18 months ago people might have been thinking that in order to be sustainable they need to make very tangible changes to what they bought but people’s mentality around what it means to be sustainable is changing and it is about getting more out of your existing products rather than feeling the need to actually buy a different product.”

The study also suggests that 46 per cent of consumers rely on technology to manage their daily lives, with data theft and security breaches an issue of concern for a majority of respondents, most notably ID theft and data/security breaches.

Consumers are wary about what it happens to their data, with 53 per cent concerned that companies may sell their personal information to a third party.

Paradoxically, however, they are also willing to share personal data if it provides value for them, with two-thirds willing to exchange their data for personalised recommendations for cheaper alternatives to a product, and six in 10 are willing to share data for a completely customised online experience.