Environment & Value for money = Here to stay?

Furthermore, a compelling three quarters said that a product that "uses less power on standby”, or one that "comes with a charger that uses less power” would be likely to influence their purchase decision.

Most important aspects in deciding which Tech products to buy: (multiple answers possible)

Richard Preedy, head of GfK Technology’s Ethical Branding Practice, comments, "We are seeing a real merger of environmental awareness with financial acumen amongst UK consumers. Value for money continues to be the overriding consideration when purchasing new technology, but energy efficiency equals money saved on household bills, as well as the feel-good factor of buying a more environmentally friendly product. Over two out of five UK adults said that buying an ethical brand made them feel good; that’s up 7 per cent from last year.

"We’re also seeing over one in five agreeing that they would pay up to a 10 per cent premium for an ethical technology product over a conventional one. What’s particularly striking is that, despite the recession, this figure has risen back to almost the same level we were seeing in March last year, after it dipped at the end of 2008. This suggests that the ethical credentials of technology products are a consideration that’s here to stay and manufacturers will need to balance that alongside other key purchasing concerns.” 

Who should take the lead and what areas should they focus on?

The survey also shows that two out of five people believe that ‘manufacturers and companies’ should take the lead in supporting ethical business practices, very closely followed by ‘the Government’. Just over one in five think that individual consumers should take the lead. Packaging seems to be a quick win area, with almost three out of five people (up 11 per cent from 2008) agreeing that they would be more likely to purchase a product that had "reduced packaging” and over half (up five per cent from 2008) saying the same for "packaging made from recycled materials”.

Looking at the material of the product itself, we see close to three out of five consumers saying that their purchasing decision would be favourably influenced towards a product manufactured using "less harmful materials or chemicals”. However, this support drops to just below half – 45 per cent – when it comes to products manufactured from recycled material, suggesting that consumers still see recycled material as being inferior quality when it comes to technology products.