Shoppers say they want conscious consumption. But they won’t spend to do it

After bottoming out during the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, the perception of conscious consumerism has ascended to new heights in recent years. On the surface the statistics are headed in the right direction. The majority of Americans believe it is important to support socially responsible products and services, and the majority have done so in the past year. Additionally, roughly a third of the country plans to spend more with such brands in the year ahead.

But while the headlines suggest a cause for celebration for people selling to conscious consumers, the underlying data in the results from our agency’s annual Conscious Consumer Spending Index tell more of a cautionary tale.

Despite seeing a steady rise in socially responsible spending (three of our Index’s top scores in its 12 years have occurred within the last four years), one of the more concerning findings this time around was an all-time low in success rate for Americans in terms of following through on their intentions to support socially responsible brands.

The big culprit for this disconnect? Price.

It is easy to find research that affirms that consumers prefer to shop locally and will pay a premium for doing so. It is equally simple to confirm that consumers say they will pay more for socially responsible products and services. Unfortunately, these results are far more aspirational than they are realistic.

Year after year, our Index shows that consumers prefer to shop at stores offering a “buy one get one” versus those offering to give a like product to someone in need or make a charitable donation for each purchase.

Meanwhile, more than half of Americans say the price of “do good” products and services deterred them from following their hearts and supporting conscious brands. That tracks with other research showing that the majority of Americans want to shop local more frequently, but also cite price as the biggest barrier.

In the same survey, almost 30% of Americans said they were morally opposed to Amazon, yet the vast majority of these people reported they shop there anyway. For the past 10 years, we’ve been asking Americans to name one socially responsible company or cause. This is unaided recall, so we don’t provide options. It’s up to respondents to come up with a name on the spot.

Amazon has topped the list for six years running, while Walmart is always lurking near the top as well. Amazon’s reign at No. 1 on this list has been perplexing for years, but maybe there’s a contingent of Americans trying to justify the fact that saving money is trumping morals.

At the same time, online retailers such as Shein and Temu are invading American households on the daily. Research suggests that 152 million Americans use Temu regularly. It is the third most popular shopping app among millennials. There are obvious questions being posed about how socially responsible such sites are. What’s clear is these sites are offering products at significantly lower prices, and that’s enough for many to click “buy now.”

All of this tells us that consumers continue to be price sensitive when it comes to “do good” brands, and that when the economy is harder on the average American, this price sensitivity naturally increases. It seems fair to suggest that we need to double down on educating consumers that the price of a product or service does not equate to its cost—or its value. We have to push consumers beyond price as the determining factor, which can be challenging, particularly when 20% of American households say their income has fallen in the past year.

For conscious consumerism to see continued growth, or at least avoid a cold plunge, we have to make stronger links with consumers and reframe the value prop of local, do-good brands as they shop. Just like we expect companies to lean into their purpose, even when profits suffer, we have to hold consumers to the same standard.

It’s entirely a different scale, and entirely a different proposition altogether. However, purchasing locally sourced, higher-quality products while reducing overall consumption could lead to less pressure on the pocketbook while fueling higher success rates on purposeful intentions. The problem is the average consumer isn’t doing this math—yet. And if they are, they are coming up with the wrong answer. The fate of this movement relies on a better equation.