Nursery Today September 2021

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Consumer insights:

FANFINDERS

Sustainability:

mapping its importance to modern parents Do green credentials finally matter more than price? Can we expect behaviours to change drastically following the pandemic? FanFinders have been drawing conclusions from how modern parents feel about two hot topics: switching to electric cars and sustainable travel.

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s part of our recent insights series, we surveyed over 3,000 UK parents in our Your Baby Club community around a couple of topics that are crucial to the future sustainability discussion. The idea of a ‘carbon tax’ for airlines or consumers has been proposed regularly over the past few years, while electric/ hybrid cars are seen as a key part of the government’s plan to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The insights that emerged help us to pinpoint just how much the pandemic has altered the attitudes of modern families to tackling climate change and, by extension, what this could mean for brands and products with strong eco-credentials over the coming years.

Making changes Our survey revealed that there is appetite from parents to switch to an electric or hybrid car. 86% have some interest in owning one in the future and over a third (35%) expect their next vehicle to be electric or hybrid. The attraction? 59% believe the biggest benefit of owning an electric or hybrid vehicle is reducing pollution and interestingly, 75% think that owning a ‘cleaner’ vehicle is important to teach their children about sustainability. As for sustainable travel, 85% stated that this is an important issue for them and following the pandemic, almost 3/4 (74%) want to travel more sustainably. This includes 40% of parents who would like to stay in sustainable

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accommodation over the next year and 80% of families willing to travel to less popular destinations and attractions to ensure they aren’t contributing to overcrowding. We could see this start to impact consumer decision making. 75% of families revealed that seeing an airline take steps to be ‘cleaner’ is important in choosing whether to fly with them, while 60% get annoyed when somewhere they are staying prevents them from being sustainable (e.g. lack of recycling facilities). These shifting attitudes aren’t limited to just motoring and travel choices either. Almost 40% of families said the pandemic has inspired them to make positive changes in how they recycle at home and over a quarter (26%) want to reduce their food waste.

The power of price Despite the motivation to become more sustainable, there is evidence that price remains the crux of any decision. Even though our travel survey revealed that 55% of families would be willing to pay more to make their trip sustainable and over a third would accept a 10% increase on the price of their holiday to make it carbon neutral, the majority (54%) would only be willing to pay an increase of less than 5%. 85% of families also stated that price was the most important factor in whether they would carbon offset their holiday. It’s a similar story with family vehicles. More than half (55%) of the

respondents believe that cost is the main reason more people don’t own electric or hybrid cars and 89% stated they would buy an electric or hybrid car if it was the same price as a petrol vehicle. Incentives could make all the difference. Over 60% of families agree there should be tax rebates for electric cars available to all consumers and utility companies should offer discount rates for electric car charging. The reality is that even though 40% of families said they are prepared to make lifestyle compromises to benefit the environment, almost half said they only choose environmentally-friendly options when it can save them money.

Consumers want more choice Beyond price, a clear insight from these surveys is that parents don’t just want a choice between ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘not’ to switch, they are seeking a range of

eco-friendly options which suit their lifestyles. Over 85% of families think that carmakers should provide more types of electric vehicles to encourage switching and 32% said they would book an environmentally-friendly holiday if there were more options available. 82% also don’t believe there is enough sustainable accommodation. While changing attitudes could be positive for eco-friendly brands, there is still a way to go for sustainable to become the mainstream choice for parents. As an example, family-friendly services, cost, location and brand reputation were all considered more important factors than green credentials for families when choosing their holiday packages. This suggests that for environmentallyfriendly products or services to continue competing at a larger scale with new families, they will need to represent good value and deliver on a number of priorities.

FanFinders is a performance marketing and consumer insight company that connects brands with parents who want what they have to offer via Your Baby Club. See more at fanfinders.com

For more information on FanFinders and the consumer insight they can offer, call: 0203 808 3011 or visit www.fanfinders.com


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