Top Sustainability Features for US Consumers: Socially Responsible Labor Practices and Human Rights

As motivators for purchasing sustainable products, social dimensions continue to be more important for US consumers than environmental ones, according to our survey of more than 2,000 US respondents conducted jointly with The Harris Poll. This confirms the trend that first emerged in our research a year earlier. The shift from environmental to social features as dominant purchase motivators comes despite the increase of extreme weather events. However, as much as people appreciate sustainability features, our research has shown that they are secondary to price and other key product criteria such as quality and functionality. Thus, sustainability characteristics only drive purchases if consumers' price and other product expectations are satisfied.