The April Barcode: Sustainability and Environmentally Friendliness Impact on Consumers’ Brand Affinity
Image credit: Sensibill
The Barcode Report delivers the world’s deepest and most relevant insights on everyday consumer spending. We break down spend data into digestible and actionable facts, highlighting key trends that go beyond what you’d learn from simple card statements. We leverage item-level receipt data accumulated from millions of users across our network of banks, credit unions, and technology partners. The Barcode dives beneath the surface of “how much was spent and where” and provides a true look at what consumers and small businesses are spending their money on.
We analyzed millions of receipts from U.S., Canadian and U.K. consumers to explore spending trends related to building a healthier lifestyle.
🇺🇸 Environmental impact of a brand is not top of mind for US consumers yet
Ever wonder how sustainable and environmentally friendly our diets are? We took a deep dive into SKU-level data to give us a lens into what we eat and how sustainable our food habits are. When examined in conjunction with food sustainability scores provided by the Food & Agriculture Benchmark, an organization that assesses 350 agricultural companies on sustainability practices from farm to fork - we are able to get a clear picture on how our diets affect the environment.
In 2022 to date, only 16% of an individual’s shopping basket was made up of items that belonged to 34 brands with a score of 40+ on the Food & Agriculture Benchmark. In 2021, that proportion was higher, with 21% of consumers’ baskets made up of goods from these socially responsible companies, suggesting that despite a shift to more sustainable practices on the part of companies, consumers are not meaningfully factoring this in their spending decisions.
🇺🇸 Carbon emissions per purchase trip has been on the decline
Each food item in a shopper’s grocery basket has a greenhouse emission cost associated with it, enabling consumers to track and reduce their carbon footprint, just by changing the foods they shop for.
When we looked at SKU-level data related to each receipt, it revealed that, on average in the past 3 years, an individual contributes to approximately 6kg in carbon emissions per shopping trip. When looking at the trend over time, we saw average carbon emissions per shopping trip per user reduce by 2 fold in 2020 when compared to 2019, thereafter staying somewhat constant.
🇨🇦 Canadian consumers are not environmentally concerned when selecting brands
In 2022, none of the items in an individual’s shopping basket belonged to brands with a score over 40 as determined by Food & Agriculture Benchmark. When compared to previous years (2019-2021), a Canadian consumer’s shopping basket usually contains 4% to 6% of items from brands with a score over 40. It is noteworthy that, among Canadian consumers, purchase of less sustainable brands have increased by 1.2 times.
🇨🇦 Carbon emissions per purchase trip has declined after a sharp spike in 2020
Each food item in a shopper’s grocery basket has a greenhouse emission cost associated with it, enabling consumers to track and reduce their carbon footprint, just by changing the foods they shop for.
When we looked at SKU-level data related to each receipt, it revealed that, on average in the past 4 years, an individual contributed to approximately 9kg of carbon emissions on each shopping trip. In 2020, average carbon emissions per shopping trip per user increased by 1.7 times, but these have since halved in 2021 with 2022 consistent with 2021 amounts to date.
🇬🇧 Environmental impact of a brand is top of mind for UK consumers
In 2022, 50% of the items in an individual’s shopping basket belonged to brands with a score over 40 as determined by Food & Agriculture Benchmark. When compared to previous years (2019-2021), UK consumers have been purchasing close to 4 times more items from environmentally conscious brands on each purchase trip.
🇬🇧Carbon emissions per purchase trip has declined after a sharp spike in 2020
Each food item in a shopper’s grocery basket has a greenhouse emission cost associated with it, enabling consumers to track and reduce their carbon footprint, just by changing the foods they shop for.
When we looked at SKU-level data related to each receipt, it revealed that, on average in the past 4 years, an individual contributed to approximately 9kg of carbon emissions on each shopping trip. In 2020, average carbon emissions per shopping trip per user increased tenfold from the prior year, but then reduced by a third in 2021.
Leveraging the cloud-native, machine learning-powered Sensibill data platform to access and analyze the SKU-level data, we are able to classify and categorize data into profiles to derive meaningful and actionable insights. As you read above, we can use those insights to determine trends based on a variety of categories.
We’re looking forward to another year ahead of sharing spending insights!