Packaging-free solutions must be more attractive to mainstream consumers to successfully reduce single use plastic in grocery stores, writes Wayne Hubbard, CEO of ReLondon.

The range of solutions to help consumers shop with less single-use packaging and plastic is growing. From small shops offering groceries in bulk for bring-your-own containers, to larger online stores selling groceries in reusable packaging, the fight against single-use packaging and plastic is ramping up.

Providing some explanation for the growth in the number of packaging-free shopping solutions available, Hubbub’s recent research on plastic use reveals that two-thirds of Londoners are in fact concerned about the environmental impact of single-use packaging and want to reduce the amount of plastic they use.

However, our own research also shows that just 10% of consumers in London actually take that intention into account when thinking about where to do their grocery shopping. The research reveals that price, proximity, ease of use and size of product range are the key factors which influence Londoners’ decision-making around where they shop, rather than the level of single-use plastic or packaging.

As the cost of living bites and consumers have less money to spend, price is likely to become even more important in purchasing decisions. If it comes down to a choice between putting food on the table or reducing waste, there can only be one winner. Shoppers have grown accustomed to a conventional shopping experience that offers competitive prices, proximity, and ease. Packaging-free options, which haven’t yet reached a critical mass, aren’t always the easy, obvious choice for them.

This begs the question, what more needs to be done to encourage consumers to adopt packaging-free shopping and reduce the amount of single use plastic used within our supermarkets and grocery stores?

The answer? Retailers offering packaging-free solutions need to consider how they go broader than ’saving the planet’ as a marketing tool to appeal to the mainstream market. How else can their value proposition appeal to a mainstream crowd and in turn reduce single use plastic and packaging?

Help people collect close to home with prefill online

When all factors are considered, ‘prefill’ online offerings – where products are provided in reusable packaging and the retailer takes back the containers after they’ve been used – are the closest match to conventional packaging and so they’re in pole position in the race to attract a large mainstream market. The fact the solution is digital, using online ordering, means that it aligns with how people are increasingly shopping for groceries, with online sales growing considerably during, and since, the pandemic. It also allows shoppers to collect their goods close to home, addressing the issue of proximity which, according to our research, is a key factor in determining where consumers shop.

However prefills are often more expensive, so retailers will also need to ensure that their customers both find them super-easy to use and have a great customer experience, in order to compete with the conventional packaging offer for the mainstream audience.

Keep costs low with in-store refills

Another option is in-store refills, which gives shoppers the ability to refill their own reusable packaging, such as tubs, jars and bottles. This can offer price parity with the disposable single-use equivalent and can be a great solution to reducing plastic use.

Target the niche market

Mainstreaming is not the only way forward for packaging-free solutions: they can also appeal to a niche sub-group of target customers. Niche preferences can still represent a healthy market size for certain providers of packaging-free solutions, particularly small businesses. For example, over 15% of the people surveyed by ReLondon took the quality of products into consideration in their shopping decisions; if extrapolated across London, this could represent over 1 million customers. 12% of Londoners were influenced by the ability to buy the exact amount they need and 13% by products that are good for their health when making decisions about which shop to use for their grocery shopping.

But for a much larger group of shoppers, sustainability already takes a bit of a back seat in decisions about what food they buy and where, and the cost-of-living crisis is likely to make this worse. Despite this, if you are a packaging-free shop in London, or sell refill or prefill products in-store, you have an opportunity to have more impact by making your solution more attractive to consumers, regardless of whether sustainability is their main priority. Focus on improving your offering against the factors that the majority of shoppers prioritise, such as price, proximity and ease, so your mission doesn’t have to take a backseat through the cost of living crisis.

But remember that going for the mainstream isn’t the only way to grow your impact and your business: you could also consider a more targeted approach, focusing on appealing to niche preferences which can still represent a healthy market size.

ReLondon is a partnership of the Mayor of London and the London boroughs to improve waste and resource management and transform the city into a leading low carbon circular economy.

 

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