Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
For US consumers, price and quality outweigh environmental concerns
Sustainability | North America
April 21, 2021 – Our survey suggests that US buyers don’t care much about sustainability; price, brand, and quality are their main considerations. Other responses to the survey offer more nuance: consumers worry about a wide range of environmental issues, and are willing to pay more for green products if they were more available and better labeled.
To read the article, see “Sustainability in packaging: Inside the minds of US consumers,” October 21, 2020.
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Visual form
Category-by-factor bubble matrix.
Layout / body structure
The chart is a single matrix with product categories running left to right across the top and purchasing factors running top to bottom on the left. Reader scans across each factor row to compare categories, or down each category column to see which considerations rank highest within that product type.
What is being compared
It compares the share of US consumers who say different factors matter in purchasing decisions across categories such as frozen foods, packaged foods, fresh meat and poultry, household cleaning products, dairy products, beverages, pet food, fast food and delivery, and fresh fruits and vegetables. The factors include price, brand, perception of quality, convenient access, product packaging, environmental impact, and social impact.
Measurement system
The measure is percent of respondents. Circle size and the printed number inside each bubble show the strength of each factor within each product category.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Every cell in the matrix is a dark circular marker sized to its value, so the biggest purchase drivers stand out as the largest bubbles near the top rows. Small bubbles cluster in the environmental and social impact rows, while much larger circles appear in the price and quality rows across most categories.
Main takeaway from the visual
Price, quality, and often brand matter far more to US consumers than packaging or environmental concerns across the food and household categories shown. The matrix makes that hierarchy unmistakable because the largest bubbles consistently sit in the top rows and the sustainability-related rows remain small almost everywhere.
Key standout values or extremes
Price reaches 66 percent for packaged foods and fresh meat, 64 for frozen foods, and stays above 50 in every category shown. Perception of quality reaches 60 for fresh meat and for fresh fruits and vegetables, while environmental impact ranges only from about 10 to 22 and social impact from 9 to 13, making those the smallest rows on the page.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.