One in Two Consumer Goods Companies Say "Eco-Friendly Trend Greatly Affects Exports"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jin-ho] As consumers' environmental awareness has significantly increased through experiences with climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a growing argument that Korean companies and the government should engage in marketing targeting these 'greensumers' as well as provide related policy support.

According to the report titled ‘Targeting the Emerging Greensumers in the Era of Eco-friendly Consumption’ released on the 25th by the Korea International Trade Association's Institute for International Trade and Commerce, a survey conducted in February on 409 domestic consumer goods export companies showed that more than half, 51.3%, responded that ‘the eco-friendly trend has a significant impact on their exports and sales.’ Companies reporting ‘increased demand for eco-friendly products after the pandemic’ accounted for 52.1%.

The recent global consumer goods market is being led by ‘greensumers.’ As of 2021, these greensumers accounted for 53% of global consumers, an increase of about 20 percentage points compared to 2019 before the pandemic.

The institute analyzed the eco-friendly consumer markets in six regions?Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Oceania, North America, and South America?across four categories: market maturity, consumer influence, corporate awareness, and policy environment. The most promising market was found to be Western Europe, followed by Oceania.

Western Europe had the largest number of eco-friendly products, approximately 1.2 million. Oceania showed the highest market growth rate at 10.1%. Additionally, Oceania consumers demonstrated strong influence with a high proportion of willingness to purchase eco-friendly products (33.6%) and purchasing power (USD 46,567).

Accordingly, the report recommended that eco-friendly response strategies are essential to target the global consumer goods market. Specifically, it proposed marketing strategies such as maximizing consumer experience and disclosing eco-friendly management activities targeting the environmentally sensitive MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), along with response strategies including applying eco-friendly elements from production to distribution, preventing greenwashing, and acquiring eco-friendly certifications.

Researcher Lim Ji-hoon of the Trade Association stated, “The reason the greensumer generation prefers eco-friendly products is the ‘satisfaction of fulfilling their values,’” adding, “The government and support organizations should strengthen not only financial, technological, and marketing support but also the establishment of eco-friendly industry statistics, activation of overseas mutual certification agreements, and support for obtaining overseas certifications.”

Meanwhile, the biggest challenges for export companies in transitioning to eco-friendly practices were ‘decline in price competitiveness due to increased R&D and costs’ (31.2%) and ‘difficulty in obtaining certifications’ (19.3%). The most needed supports were ‘financial support’ (25.7%), ‘certification acquisition support’ (25.2%), and ‘marketing support’ (22.9%), respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.