Lately, one of the hot surveys in china is to figure out whether “good”firms are rewarded by consumer loyalty. It was the topic of an interesting article last week entitiled
This week, I found a survey conducted by Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates and Landor Associates, Cohn & Wolfe called the Green Brands Survey: China.
The survey surprised their team
“The results indicate that Chinese consumers are highly conscious of the state of the environment and are eager to play an active role in affecting not only their own behaviors, but also those of Chinese regulators and businesses.”
and the most surpising bit for me was:
Chinese consumers say that their environmental concerns influence their purchasing intent: 69 percent expect to spend more money on green products in the coming year. This contrasts markedly with the US, where only 38 percent of consumers expect to increase their spending on green products in 2009, and the UK where just 33 percent will spend more.
While interesting, where I would like to see more details are in the location & size of the sample population, the methodology of the sample (face-to-face or internet), and when the sample was conducted.
Why these are particularly important to know is that when Wuxi’s algae breakout occured, I knew of one firm that conducted a survey jsut one month after and saw environmental awareness as being off the chart (not all the unsurprising given they had just lost the ability to drink water for a week), and that firm drew conclusions that in the end proved false in the medium term.
Without providing details about the population sample, or the methodology of the survey,this is an interesting report, but I am a bit ary at this point (I have an email into the authors) as to the real context of this report. I have no doubts that Chinese consumers are not only becoming more aware, but they will start looking for companies who do not taint their environments, but I still have a difficult time believing they will pay a premium for these products.