But is the packaging sustainable? Consumers want to know.

Discover why modern consumers prioritize sustainable packaging over product design alone. Explore key insights on eco-friendly packaging and customer loyalty.

Consumer Insights

Customers Care About What’s Outside the Box — Not Just What’s In It

Sustainable packaging is no longer a nice-to-have. For today’s buyers, it shapes purchase decisions, brand loyalty, and what they are willing to pay.

Consumerist culture has got a bad rap from environmental experts. In our opinion, this is an unfair label.

Why? Because it assumes that the vast majority of well-informed, responsible consumers choose to ignore the ecological consequences of their purchasing behaviour, when in fact, the opposite is true.

Almost three out of four consumers around the world would be willing to change their consumption routine to decrease their influence on the environment.

Not just what’s-in-the-box

Since the advent of packaged goods, brands have assumed that a customer’s sole interest is in the product. The stereotype of an eager buyer ripping apart wrapping paper, tearing open a box, and flinging aside the cushioning material to reveal the product they’ve purchased is too firmly entrenched.

Today, the typical customer is more likely to examine the packaging, notice, and comment on its environment friendliness or lack thereof, and file away this information for future purchases.

Many multinational conglomerates and FMCG leaders have launched or redesigned products with a focus on sustainability because they believe that this is what appeals to customers. They would do well to go a step further, considering another research revelation:

What customers rank first

Every other global consumer considers sustainable packaging to be the most important sustainability initiative that a brand can launch.

Customers care

To understand how consumer thinking has evolved, McKinsey conducted a survey in ten countries around the world (including India) to better understand customer attitudes towards sustainable packaging.

The results are unequivocal. 43% of surveyed US consumers cited environmental impact as extremely or very important for packaging; most also said that this factor is very important when they purchase products for various end-use areas. This is not a sector-specific preference; the responses are consistent across different end-use segments.

India is more concerned than every other country surveyed

India — which is often considered to be a market in the throes of reckless consumerism — was more concerned about the environmental impact of packaging than all other countries surveyed.

Four out of five Indian consumers are worried.

Water pollution Marine litter Climate change Air pollution Deforestation Waste production Resource depletion

Even a casual observer of the ecological challenges this country faces can correlate these concerns with what they have seen and read for themselves. Newsflash: customers care for the environment, and they feel responsible for its protection.

Caring = concrete change?

It is one thing to feel that something should be done for the environment, but it takes mass individual efforts to affect actual change. Consumers have come through, and how.

75%

Already buying greener

Three out of four shoppers said they have made a conscious effort to purchase more sustainable products in the past year.

86%

Packaging decides the sale

An even stronger majority said they are more likely to purchase a product from a brand if the packaging is considered sustainable.

60%

Checking recyclability

Three out of five respondents actively consider whether packaging can be recycled.

75%

Expecting 100% sustainable packs

Three of four customers were certain they expected more retailers to offer 100% sustainable packaging soon.

What buyers want next

A little less than half want all packaging to be completely biodegradable. As a clear order to brands, most customers expect retailers to move faster on fully sustainable packaging.

Recyclable packaging
Biodegradable materials
100% sustainable retail packs
Paper over plastic

Packaging directs purchasing

No longer can a brand afford to ship an innovatively designed, perfectly crafted, visually appealing product to a customer without giving a thought to the design, craft, and environmental appeal of the packaging.

During the pandemic alone, over half of all customers have made more of an effort to buy sustainably packaged goods; even more shared that the sustainability of the packaging chosen by the brand is a factor in their product selection process.

Slick product photoshoots and smartly worded product descriptions are not enough; customers want to know not just what they are getting, but what they are going to get it in.

Packaging sustainability = brand loyalty

The following finding of a survey is most earth-shattering: approximately 68% of consumers are open to switching to a brand that offers sustainable packaging. This is particularly true of younger consumers — the largest spending cohort of the future — who will rely on tech tools such as digital product labeling and mobile tracking apps to check environmental claims and ensure minimal climate impact.

What brands assumed	What customers actually do
The product is all that matters	Buyers examine packaging and remember how eco-friendly it felt
Sustainability is a product-only story	Every other global consumer ranks sustainable packaging as the top brand initiative
Customers won’t switch for packaging	68% are open to switching to a brand that offers sustainable packaging
Loyalty is locked in by product quality	Every other consumer already chooses one comparable brand over another based on packaging
New customers only come from ads	47% of buyers will purchase from a brand they normally wouldn’t, if the packaging resonates

But will customers pay?

The answer is a resounding yes. Brands no longer need to have misgivings about investing in more sustainable packaging options. According to the McKinsey survey, approximately 70% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable packaging, with many looking for options like compostable and paper packaging to take the place of plastics.

This is where Pack8 comes in

With our paper-based cushioning solution HexCush and paper-based void-filling Fill8, we are helping hundreds of customer-conscious brands meet their customers’ sustainable packaging expectations.

Here is one last result from the survey: among all segments, customers believe that the ones which most need to do better in terms of packaging sustainability are automobiles, electronics, and cosmetics — the very segments with which we at Pack8 work most closely.