The Sustainability Survey
In order to turn our idea into a successful, sustainable business, we have to see if there is a market for our "product". As much as a sustainable lifestyle these days should be considered a 'need', it is still treated as a 'want'. Therefore, we also have to look at it that way. So we created a survey to see if there are potential consumers out there who would use our website/app to make sustainable purchasing decisions.
We used survey monkey, therefore had to limit the survey to 10 questions. The most important things to include were people's opinion on sustainability and lifestyle, how they make purchasing decisions for different categories, and if they would be interested in our app.
We asked the following 10 questions:
Responses:
Q1
Most responses were based around "reduce, reuse, recycle", lasting products with low environmental impact, that are used over and over again, limit resource usage and not wasting materials. Also ensuring the long term survival of our planet. A few stand out responses:
"changing behaviour towards lasting usage of items"
"cost (material and labour in relation to environmental impact) significantly lower than price point"
"keeping something the same"
"nothing humans do"
"population mind control"
(This question was for us to understand where people stand in relation to sustainability.)
Q2
85% of respondents said they were actively doing something to save/protect the environment
(What needs to be considered here though is that given the survey title, people who have no interest in sustainability most likely haven't filled in the survey.)
Q3
(Recycling as a widespread common practice was set as a measure to relate to Q2.)
Q4
However, only 50% claim to know what happens to the items they recycle.
Q5
82% of the survey takers have come across Sustainability ratings.
Q6
Q7
Here people gave a variety of reasons within their answers. I sorted them by how often they appeared.
20x price
9x quality
6x taste
5x made in NZ/locally
5x organic/free range animal products
4x no plastic packaging or packaging recyclable
3x brand reputation
2x fat and sugar content
Also mentioned were low carcinogenic ingredients and being happy to pay more for better/ethical/sustainable products up to a point.
Q8
same principle as Q7
16x price
15x energy/electricity rating
9x quality/value for money
9x brand reputation
7x lasting/practical/functionality
4x water rating
3x ongoing costs
3x features/look
2x sustainable/ethical practices
2x consumer reviews
2x after sales service
2x second hand
Q9
14x need it/replacement
12x price
10x what is it made of
9x looks good/fits
7x second hand
4x longevity
4x practical/easy
3x quality of garment
2x made in NZ
Individual responses were whether item was on special, design, fashion and ethical store rating.
Q10
Only 12% of respondents were not interested in our product.
Interpretation of results:
As we only asked 10 questions, we can only gain a small insight into people's opinion and actions on sustainability.
However, results also need to be looked and interpreted with care. For example, a response to question 7 stated they buy locally made/made in NZ as it means a low carbon footprint. This may be true for some products, but not necessarily for all. Also, believing to know what happens to the recycling after pick and being correct about it, are two different things.
Based on the results, consumers can be put into four different categories:
1.
Consumers who are focused on living a sustainable lifestyle and have solid knowledge of rating systems and make use of them.
2.
Consumers who already make good sustainability decisions in their daily life, but would be interested in learning about sustainability ratings and implement them in their choices.
3.
Consumers who believe they aren't doing anything at the moment that is classified as sustainable, but would like to learn in order to make better, more informed choices. (Note: Most of the respondents are recycling, so they are doing something 'good'.)
4.
Consumers who are either not interested in sustainability ratings or not interested in making use of our proposed app.
- Konstanze Lehmann
In order to turn our idea into a successful, sustainable business, we have to see if there is a market for our "product". As much as a sustainable lifestyle these days should be considered a 'need', it is still treated as a 'want'. Therefore, we also have to look at it that way. So we created a survey to see if there are potential consumers out there who would use our website/app to make sustainable purchasing decisions.
We used survey monkey, therefore had to limit the survey to 10 questions. The most important things to include were people's opinion on sustainability and lifestyle, how they make purchasing decisions for different categories, and if they would be interested in our app.
We asked the following 10 questions:
Responses:
Q1
Most responses were based around "reduce, reuse, recycle", lasting products with low environmental impact, that are used over and over again, limit resource usage and not wasting materials. Also ensuring the long term survival of our planet. A few stand out responses:
"changing behaviour towards lasting usage of items"
"cost (material and labour in relation to environmental impact) significantly lower than price point"
"keeping something the same"
"nothing humans do"
"population mind control"
(This question was for us to understand where people stand in relation to sustainability.)
Q2
85% of respondents said they were actively doing something to save/protect the environment
(What needs to be considered here though is that given the survey title, people who have no interest in sustainability most likely haven't filled in the survey.)
Q3
(Recycling as a widespread common practice was set as a measure to relate to Q2.)
Q4
However, only 50% claim to know what happens to the items they recycle.
Q5
82% of the survey takers have come across Sustainability ratings.
Q6
Q7
Here people gave a variety of reasons within their answers. I sorted them by how often they appeared.
20x price
9x quality
6x taste
5x made in NZ/locally
5x organic/free range animal products
4x no plastic packaging or packaging recyclable
3x brand reputation
2x fat and sugar content
Also mentioned were low carcinogenic ingredients and being happy to pay more for better/ethical/sustainable products up to a point.
Q8
same principle as Q7
16x price
15x energy/electricity rating
9x quality/value for money
9x brand reputation
7x lasting/practical/functionality
4x water rating
3x ongoing costs
3x features/look
2x sustainable/ethical practices
2x consumer reviews
2x after sales service
2x second hand
Q9
14x need it/replacement
12x price
10x what is it made of
9x looks good/fits
7x second hand
4x longevity
4x practical/easy
3x quality of garment
2x made in NZ
Individual responses were whether item was on special, design, fashion and ethical store rating.
Q10
Only 12% of respondents were not interested in our product.
Interpretation of results:
As we only asked 10 questions, we can only gain a small insight into people's opinion and actions on sustainability.
However, results also need to be looked and interpreted with care. For example, a response to question 7 stated they buy locally made/made in NZ as it means a low carbon footprint. This may be true for some products, but not necessarily for all. Also, believing to know what happens to the recycling after pick and being correct about it, are two different things.
Based on the results, consumers can be put into four different categories:
1.
Consumers who are focused on living a sustainable lifestyle and have solid knowledge of rating systems and make use of them.
2.
Consumers who already make good sustainability decisions in their daily life, but would be interested in learning about sustainability ratings and implement them in their choices.
3.
Consumers who believe they aren't doing anything at the moment that is classified as sustainable, but would like to learn in order to make better, more informed choices. (Note: Most of the respondents are recycling, so they are doing something 'good'.)
4.
Consumers who are either not interested in sustainability ratings or not interested in making use of our proposed app.
- Konstanze Lehmann
Comments
Post a Comment