SDGs are taking hold here in Japan: What impact are they having on consumers’ choice of products and services?
INTAGE has conducted an ongoing voluntary survey on SDGs since 2020. While the word “SDGs” is taking hold, to what extent is it impacting the perspective consumers take when choosing products and services? We’ll present the latest trends here from our voluntary survey to date.
Fig.1 is a comparison of the level of understanding regarding SDGs over time. The awareness rate* of the word “SDGs” itself increased dramatically from 2020 to 2022, shifting to a slight increase at 83.7% in January 2023 and 84.6% most recently (at the end of December 2023). At the same time, 56.6% responded “I am aware of what it means” and “I am aware of what it means to an extent”, an increase from the previous wave (53.8%), indicating that the growth of awareness in SDGs has reached its limit for the time being, but that consumers are developing a deeper understanding at present. *Awareness rate: “I am aware of what it means”, “I am aware of what it means to an extent”, and “I’ve heard the word before, but aren’t aware of what it means” total regarding SDGs
Fig.1
Following the covid crisis, Japanese consumers are now facing social challenges such as war and conflict. “Peace and justice for all” is now a top priority
Let’s next take a look at how the “goals priority should be given to working on in terms of SDGs” have changed over the past 3 years. Fig. 2 presents the results of having respondents select the top 3 items they think should be prioritized out of 17 SDG goals.
Fig.2
The latest results show that “Peace and justice for all” was cited most, followed by “Health and welfare for all”, “Concrete measures for climate change”, “Eliminating poverty” and “Eliminating inequality between people and countries”. The top five items have switched ranks, but all have remained in the top 5 since 2021.
At the same time, this switch in ranks reflects the air in society and the psychology of consumers. “Health and welfare for all”, for example, rose amidst concerns about infection during the covid crisis. “Work satisfaction and economic growth”, previously a minor item outside the top 10, increase sizably in the previous wave to rank 7th in response to concerns about the economy and household budgets such as the cooling of the economy due to the impact of covid.In addition, “Peace and justice for all” ranked top in the most recent results, apparently impacted by the situation in Ukraine and the Isarael-Gaza conflict in the Middle East. On reflection of past trends, this item has risen in rank yearly from 3rd → 2nd→ 1st, suggesting that social concerns like war and conflict continue to overshadow the lives of consumers.
Their greatest concern is not the Earth but their wallets, with themes related to wellbeing also perceived an issue
Fig. 3 presents the results of having respondents choose “items of interest (as many as apply)” and their “top item of interest (one only) from among 30 social issues/themes.
Fig. 3
“Inflation, increased cost of living” ranked 1st as both an “item of interest” and “top item of interest”. It rated 10.5 points or higher – far in front of the 2nd and lower ranked items on “top item of interest”. The prices of a variety of products and services around us have increased before we knew it. The government and companies are both eager to “raise wages and increase income”, and during Spring wage negotiations, many companies, especially large firms, offered pay raises. This trend is likely to continue in the 2024 Spring wage negotiations as well. However, when it comes to “real wages”, they do not appear to have “increased” as expected. As long as there is no palpable increase in income that exceeds the consumer price index, the score for “Inflation, increased cost of living” is unlikely to stabilize. On observation of the other items, wellbeing-related themes such as “Mental health, loneliness” also appear to be perceived as sizable issues. Consumers also appear strongly interested in social issues Japan faces, such as “Rapid aging of society, nursing, generation gaps” and “Child rearing, decreasing birth rates”. In order for consumers to deepen their awareness of the sizable social issues raised by the SDGs, and these to take root as initiatives in their daily lives, it will be important for them to guarantee their mental and economic peace of mind and safety.
Fig. 4 presents the shifts in the composition of the “sustainable segment”, a categorization based on a survey of consumers regarding the extent they engaged in 45 “sustainable behaviors”. *For further details on the sustainable segment, please refer to “Utilizing a Sustainability Perspective to Solve Business Problems”.
Fig. 4
The composition of the “Low” segment with a low level of “sustainable behavior” has continued to increase after dipping once. This is deemed due to a growing consciousness of the need to protect one’s lifestyle, and depleting emotional leeway.
Do they have themselves or society in mind when choosing products and services?
We have seen that which awareness regarding SDGs is spreading, and there is increased interest in sizable social issues, that consumers’ greatest interest is in “Inflation, increased cost of living”, which has the greatest impact on themselves to this point. In these circumstances, what extent of people focus on “The realization of a better society/environment” when choosing products and services? Upon examining which of “The realization of a better society/environment” and “Merits for me” they focused upon more by category, approximately 10% gave “The realization of a better society/environment”, approximately 30% “Both the realization of a better society/environment and merits for me”, and approximately 60% gave “Merits for me” (Fig. 5).
Fig. 5
With “Daily sundries (Consumables)” and “cars” in particular, approximately 40% of consumers were conscious of “The realization of a better society/environment” when choosing products. This infers that many consumers “want to contribute to reducing the burden” since “Daily sundries (Consumables)” is a category that tends to be linked with the micro plastic waste issue, and cars with global warming as an issue – both social issues in focus in recent years.
Do Japanese consumers get behind firms that engage in SDGs?
Fig. 6 presents the results of probing on people aware of the word “SDGs” in terms of their interest in SDGs and their consciousness of firms and related products engaging in them.
Fig. 6
Approximately 50% of consumers are interested in SDGs, and feel “I also want to engage in them” and “I want to support firms engaged in them”. In addition, around 40% of people “Want to purchase/use SDG-related products/services”.
The scores for all these items increased versus 2022, albeit slightly. Consumers are identifying with and supporting firms who actively engage in SDGs. The appear to be wanting to contribute to society and the environment themselves through purchasing products that tie into the SDGs produced by these firms.
As we have reported about to this point in this article, SDGs have become widely recognized in Japan over the past few years. Domestically, extreme heat and disasters have led to increased interest in climate change and the preservation of the natural environment. On a global stage, the wars and conflicts around the world have also led to a growing call for peace.
In future, the key may be in how these sorts of understanding and insights can be linked to behavior, and whether this can be put into practice on an ongoing basis. The results of various voluntary surveys conducted by INTAGE indicate time, money, emotionally leeway, and merits for the individual must be palpable for them to “put SDGs into practice” and “continue with them”. As described above, if consumers’ own footing and reassurance and safety lifestyle-wise are uncertain because of struggling in life due to inflation, they tend to close their eyes to society. We will continue to monitor future developments, including these factors.
Data used: Voluntary survey data by INTAGE Net Research
Weighting: Gender and age group composition weighted back to match the composition ratios for relevant year based on 2020 census data, taking demographic trends etc. into account.
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