Abstract
This report forms part of a series jointly published by The Hartman Group
and Packaged Facts on Consumers and Sustainability. This four-part series
covers in separate reports the markets for foods and beverages, personal care
products, household cleaners, and OTC medications and supplements.
Sustainability means different things to different people. Asked to identify
what the term means to them, consumers most frequently respond “the
ability to last over time” (76%) and “the ability to support
oneself.” Sustainability is also strongly associated with environmental
concerns, whereby consumers are being challenged to develop and express an
“eco-consciousness” in their daily habits and purchases. Thus,
nearly half of consumers associate sustainability with conserving natural
resources and with recycling.
But using “eco-conscious” or “green” as synonymous
with sustainability unduly limits the term. “Green” falls short as
a description for the variety of social, economic and environmental issues
that real-world individuals believe are important to sustaining themselves,
their communities, and society at large. Adoption of sustainable products
mirrors the health and wellness progression that The Hartman Group has
previously reported, in which consumers first consider the impacts of things
in the body, followed by on the body, and finally around the body.
As consumers become more educated about the environmental, social, and
economic implications of their shopping habits, their health and wellness
motivations dovetail with societal concerns, such that four zones of
sustainability become relevant to purchasing choices:
- The Personal Benefit Zone
- The Environmental Zone
- The Social Zone
- The Economic Zone
Increased media coverage regarding tainted medications due to human error and
globalized production has generated rising consumer awareness about the
lifecycle and potential impacts of over-the-counter (OTC) medications and
supplements. Our research finds that consumers consider social and
environmental zones to be salient to their evaluation and purchase of
sustainable versions of OTC medications and supplements. Although OTC meds and
supplements are most common in pill form, consumers consider many of the same
sustainability issues and personal concerns to be relevant for mass-produced
topical ointments.
Series Methodology
This report series was jointly produced by The Hartman Group and Packaged
Facts, and is based on The Hartman Group' s 2009 multi-category study,
Sustainability: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility. In addition, Packaged
Facts provides an update of consumer attitudes and spending based on a
proprietary online poll conducted in February 2009 and on Experian Simmons
surveys fielded from November 2008 to June 2009.
The Hartman Group Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
This report draws primarily on an online survey of 1,856 U.S. adults conducted
in September 2008 by The Hartman Group to understand consumer attitudes and
behaviors related to sustainability. The sample was drawn from a panel of
adult U.S. consumers with Internet access, and was designed to provide good
representation of the U.S. population according to geographic area, age,
gender, race and income. The Hartman Group also conducted qualitative research
on sustainability in three markets (Seattle, Dallas, and Columbus) during
August 2008, using consumer ethnography with fifty consumers as the
cornerstone of qualitative research. Ethnographic interviews included
one-on-one conversations at an individual' s home or at a specific retail
setting, as well as group interviews also at consumers' homes. These
engagements garnered more than 100 hours of in-depth, revelatory consumer
discussion.
| 
View Cart
