SG shoppers less likely to pay more for eco-friendly products compared to MY and ID shoppers

Less than half (46%) of Singaporeans are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products. According to a study by YouGov, this increases to 60% among shoppers that prefer brands that are sustainable - also referred to as sustainable shoppers. Similar behaviour is noted across demographics except for sustainable shoppers over the age of 55, where 63% said that paying a premium for environmentally friendly products is not a concern. In comparison, 64% of Malaysians and 77% of Indonesians said they are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products, and this increased to 73% and 84% for sustainable shoppers in Malaysia and Indonesia respectively. 

Additionally, 22% of Singaporeans said they would shop specific brands without looking at the price, while 26% of sustainable shoppers say the same.

While majority of Singaporeans will not pay more for eco-friendly products, 58% of them are sustainable shoppers. Furthermore, 66% of Singaporeans from 18 to 24 years old are more likely to be sustainable shoppers, implying that environmentally conscious behaviour from brands weighs heavily on the mind of the consumer.

Loyalty programmes were also found to be a contributing factor to spending among sustainable shoppers. Two in five (40%) Sinagporeans said they are more likely to spend more with brands when they are a member of their loyalty programme, compared to 48% of sustainable shoppers.

Among sustainable shoppers, over half (55%) of those aged 25 to 34 years old said that they spend more when they are members of loyalty programmes. They also account for the greatest proportion of sustainable shoppers who say so.

However, the biggest behavioural disparity lies among those aged 45 to 54 years old. When it comes to brand loyalty, only 38% of Singaporeans said that they tend to spend more when they are a member of a brand's loyalty programme, compared to 48% of sustainable shoppers who say the same.

Separately, a Global Green Skills Report by LinkedIn showed that Singapore has been making mixed progress on the employment end when it comes to sustainable practices. For instance, the role of sustainability manager has seen the fastest growth in Singapore (41%), more so than the APAC average (28.6%). Yet, the market's second fastest-growing green job in Singapore, safety manager, falls further behind with only a 14% growth. 

At the same time, while the share of green hiring was 15% higher in 2021 compared to 2016, non-green jobs also accounted for a growing share of hiring over the same period, eventually making up close to half (49.2%) of total hires. Furthermore, even though over 40% of jobs in Singapore have the potential to become more green, hiring for such jobs fell by 2% on average. Meanwhile, non-green jobs have been seeing steady growth over the years.

Additionally, according to the UOB SME Outlook Study 2022, SMEs in Singapore want more support in the journey to become more sustainable. When implementing sustainable practices, small businesses, with turnovers of less than SG$10 million, face challenges such as insufficient knowledge to identify and to execute relevant initiatives for the organisation (40%), as well as inadequate non-financial support such as sustainability training (33%). Potential increase in cost for end customers (31%) and inadequate financial support from the government and banks for sustainability initiatives (31%) were also among the top concerns for small businesses. Meanwhile, medium-sized businesses, with turnovers of between SG$10 million and SG$100 million, cited inadequate non-financial support (47%), insufficient knowledge (46%) and the possible impact to short-term revenue (44%) as key barriers to adopting sustainable practices.

Photo courtesy: 123RF

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