How does an ethical consumer make choices?
Considerations for the Ethical Consumer
When comparing value and cost in the marketplace, consumer “rationale” is greatly influenced by advertising, branding, norms, nudges, peer influence, options paralysis and many other factors according to behavioral science. These influences include:
differentiation in comparison - high differentiation on one variable (e.g. price) draws attention from other variables (e.g. environment)
confidence in comparison - credibility of information about price, quality or ethical impact
convenience in comparison - ease of rapidly addressing all key variables in a decision
As a movement, ethical consumers have always combined individual choice with collective communication and collaboration.
Choices for the Ethical Consumer
In making choices, ethical consumers evaluate layers of Values & Mindsets, Industry Focus, Goods & Services, Brands and Products.
The illustrative example below shows how ethical consumers can simplify choices by focusing on “upstream” choice layers.
Considerations for the Practitioner
When designing consumer engagement initiatives, leaders in the movement consider additional context such as:
market segmentation - such as consumer life stage (young consumer, new parent / homeowner), income (mass market vs. luxury) & demographics (age, gender, race, etc.)
market trends - such as the embrace of thrifting or electric vehicles due to shifts in norms or total cost of ownership
evaluation types - such as commercial markets (enabling consumers to buy new products from a curated selection of brands or products), recommerce markets (enabling consumers to buy used products), focused evaluation (quantifiable evaluation of brands or products, such as ratings, rankings, certifications, lists or markets, for particular Values & Mindsets and/or particular Industries), or aggregate evaluation (aggregate evaluation of brands or products - aggregating quantifiable sources such as ratings, rankings, certifications, lists & markets - for multiple Values & Mindsets and multiple Industries).