Christmas shopping
Sustainable gifts are only worth a small additional cost to customers
Sustainability and fairness in supply chains are an important issue, but when it comes to serious money, customers are reluctant.
Only a small proportion of German consumers are willing to pay a significant premium for gifts for sustainability and fairness. Overall, only 7 percent said this in a recent survey by YouGov on behalf of the communications agency Maisberger. However, another 44 percent would pay a moderate surcharge if it was guaranteed that the gifts came from fair and sustainable supply chains.
Gender only played a small role in the answer, but age did. People under 35 were about three times as likely to be willing to pay a significant surcharge as people over 45. Net household income also made a difference: above 4,000 euros per month, the willingness to pay more is significantly higher than below this limit.
Overall, however, the topic of sustainability tends to rank lower when buying gifts. 19 percent said it was important in the survey. Other criteria such as price-performance ratio at 62 percent or usefulness at 51 percent were mentioned much more frequently. Uniqueness and personalization are also just ahead of sustainability. Multiple answers were possible here.
Waiting is more acceptable than paying
If it’s not about money, but about time, the willingness to accept something for sustainability is higher: 27 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to wait longer for gifts ordered for transparent supply chains, and at least a further 38 percent would accept short delays.
All figures are based on the respondents’ self-assessments. It is therefore possible that social desirability may have played a certain role, i.e. the effect that respondents tend towards social norms and expectations in their answers.
Not all survey participants buy Christmas presents at all or have ever done so. Only 1,648 of the 2,140 respondents said yes. At the same time, there is a relatively large group of Christmas gift buyers, 19 percent, who said they had already bought all their presents – and the survey took place between November 27th and 29th. Contrary to some clichés, gender and age did not play a major role.
dpa
Source: Stern
