The cosmetic industry is one of the most profitable businesses in the whole world. Nowadays, it is estimated at $532 billion with predicted growth of up to $800bn by 2025. Due to the increased concern for the environment and the willingness to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Goals, many consumers are now adopting eco-friendly products and this also applies to the cosmetic industry. Statistics have shown that the global sales of organic cosmetic products are predicted to increase to $54.5 bn by 2027. However, eco-friendly cosmetics now contribute less than 15% to the total market value of the global cosmetic industry. What is stopping consumers from purchasing eco-friendly cosmetic products?
A recent study was carried out to answer this question. Researchers wanted to understand the key barriers to the adoption of these products. To do so, different segments of consumers were examined (high vs low in terms of environmental and health concerns) and the Innovation Resistance Theory was integrated.
Innovation Resistance Theory explains consumers’ resistance towards any innovations in terms of the possible changes to the existing status quo and current belief system. In time, two main barriers have been classified: functional, divided into value, risk and usage and psychological, further divided into image and tradition.
The usage barrier inhibits consumers from adopting an innovation due to the changes required to adapt to it that can, therefore, change the status quo. The value one, instead, inhibits consumers because the perceived value of such a product does not seem much higher than those of the alternatives. The last functional barrier, the risk one, inhibits consumers from purchasing different products due to the higher level of uncertainty associated with them.
As said, the psychological barrier is further divided into tradition and image barriers. The first one seems to divert consumers from buying new products due to the perception that adopting them would change their habits and lifestyle. On the other hand, the image barrier inhibits consumers due to the possible difficulty they might have to adopt such innovation. Eco-friendly products encounter strong image barriers also due to the scepticism regarding the claims made about the products’ quality and originality.
The study showed that all of these barriers are found to have a negative influence on the purchase intention of eco-friendly cosmetic products. Interestingly, among these barriers, tradition and image seem to be the stronger ones.
Understanding the reasons for which consumers do not adopt green cosmetic products is fundamental as it is the starting point to creating a strategy that can help overcome such barriers. For instance, to overcome the tradition barrier, it would be good to design campaigns that emphasise the benefits of eco-friendly products or of changing one’s habits. In this context, previous studies have shown that enhancing a sense of pride in customers would be extremely powerful.
A further thing that could be done to remove, for example, the image barrier and the scepticism that emerges among customers is to be fully transparent about the benefits of the products but also their production. Moreover, it would be super powerful to start showing customers that changing their habits is easier than it seems and that the outcome they can create is extremely valuable both for the environment but also for themselves, accentuating personal benefits more.
These are only a few of the things that could be done to encourage the purchase of green cosmetic products. The environmental concern is constantly increasing and therefore, it has become more crucial than ever to start changing some of our habits to have less negative impact on Mother Earth. We know that it is a difficult process. Human beings are complex and they do not want to be denied control over their lives and choices. This is why it is fundamental that brands, in this case, beauty brands, truly understand their consumers, alongside their needs, desires, motivators and barriers to show that change isn’t too scary after all.