focus
INSIGHTS FAMILY
Sustainability
as a priority for parents Nick Richardson
CEO - The Insights Family Nick is the Founder and CEO of The Insights Family. Our purpose is to provide kids, parents, and families with a voice to shape their world. The Insights Family are the global leader in kids, parents, and families market intelligence and have become the business-critical tool for some of the world’s biggest brands. Nick himself has become a go-toexpert, who is a regular speaker at industry events across the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, with the business operating its Kids Insights and Parents Insights services across 17 countries. Nick is a Manchester Metropolitan and University of Bolton graduate, and has previously worked in senior marketing and strategy roles for companies such as Exxon Mobil, Hilton Hotels and PennWell. Nick returned to Manchester in 2017 to setup The Insights Family. Nick lives in South Manchester with his wife, one daughter and two dogs. He is a keen tennis player, United fan, and a frustrated racing driver. He is a proud Mancunian and hopes one day to drive around the world.
About Insights Family The Insights Family has been totally refreshed for 2021 and now surveys parents of children between the ages of 1 and 16 in 13 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, UK and US). The Insights Family will now survey more than 2,600 parents every week totalling more than 130,000 per year, providing real-time data on the attitudes, behaviour and consumption patterns. Our realtime portal is continually updated to allow our clients to spot the latest trends before their competitors do. For more information on The Insights Family, and to download their Future Forecast report visit www.parentsinsights.com/ futureforecast or call 0330 159 6631. 26
nursery today
This month The Insights Family Founder & CEO, Nick Richardson shares insight into the buying habits of modern parents with attitudes turning more, now more than ever, towards sustainability and eco credentials.
T
he sustainable consumer is no longer a niche audience, it is becoming the mainstream. As we move towards a generation that want to make the world a better place, consumption habits and behaviours that steer towards being sustainable are top of mind for the majority of families. A third of parents believe that taking care of the environment is an important value to instil in their children, and this sentiment becomes more prominent with parents of younger children. In terms of the parents shopping considerations focused not only on the price of the product but on the impact on the environment. Noticing this trend, many brands and corporations have already taken huge steps towards changing business models to appeal to the sustainable consumer. Boots removed all plastics from gift packaging and launched the UK’s first certified carbon neutral gifting collection. Additionally, Morrisons, Waitrose, and John Lewis all opted to remove glitter from their own-brand products. Pampers recently introduced their new Hybrid Diaper - part reusable and part disposable. Coterie recently announced the launch of its new Wipe made from 100% plant-based biodegradable and compostable materials. In many ways, brands behaving sustainably is something that is expected by consumers today, they favour businesses that are doing something to make the world a better place. That said, economic concerns caused by the pandemic has sometimes made it harder for consumers to be as socially conscious as they might like, with price or convenience playing a bigger role in the decision-making process. According to Parents Insights data,
https://try.theinsightsfamily.com/nurserytoday
16% of all parents in the UK choose products based on affordability and only 6.5% on eco-friendly impact. However, +16% more parents have reported being most concerned about the environment and climate change since February 2021. Those with 1-2-year-olds are the most likely to state eco-friendly credentials as being an influential factor in their product purchases, suggestive of the concern being passed onto the next generation. In terms of difference between generations, 58% of millennials and 44% Gen Z parents report eco-friendly credentials to be an influential factor within the buying process. More than half parents aged 36-55 report eco-friendly credentials being an influential factor to them during the purchasing process (51%).
What this means to you… Modern parents have become more eco-conscious than ever before, and their attitudes are impacting their purchase behaviours. With sustainability being placed at the forefront of their decision-making, there is a growing appetite towards second-hand offerings in baby
products, toys, and fashion. Tapping into this rising interest, a multitude of brands have diversified into second-hand fashion, with Asda be amongst the latest brands to offer second-hand clothes in 50 of its stores across the UK. A boost towards sustainability has also been taken by other established brands from a wide variety of sectors. As kids, parents, and families continuously change the way they work, learn, and make purchasing decisions – it is more important than ever to understand their attitudes, behaviours, and consumption patterns in real-time. This year we began speaking to 3,400 different parents across 17 countries, every single week. This gives us the possibility to highlight to brands the latest trends and preferences. The Insights Family survey 6,970 children aged 3-18 and 3,400 parents every week across 17 countries, equivalent to more than 362,100 kids and 176,800 parents a year. To read more and get the access to Parents Insights and the freemium version of the portal: try. theinsightsfamily.com/freemium
