According to IRI’s European Shopper Insights Survey, three quarters of shoppers across Europe say they prefer to buy products with environmentally friendly packaging.
Young millennials, aged 18-24 year olds are less concerned than older shoppers about buying products that respect the environment, the survey suggests.
The same applies to sustainability, with 30 per cent of young millennials buying locally because of this issue compared to 33 per cent of those above 34 years old.
The survey of more than 3,300 consumers from seven European countries asked shoppers a range of questions regarding their shopping habits and expectations for the future of grocery retail.
It also examined the shopping behaviour of younger generations of millennial consumers.
Italian shoppers are the most likely to want to buy products with environmentally-friendly packaging (81 per cent) followed by Spain (75 per cent) and then Greece and France (74 per cent).
German consumers were least likely to prefer to buy products with recycable packaging (62 per cent).
“Plastic pledges are fast being woven into FMCG company strategic outlooks. Manufacturers will need to continue to be seen taking action if they want their brands to remain top of mind with consumers and retailers,” said Olly Abotorabi, Senior Regional Insights Manager at IRI.
“Packaging has become a key product attribute that marketers need to feed into predictive purchase models for their brands, alongside other factors that can influence shopper behaviour such as size, flavour, colour and price.”
