The impact of societal Marketing and sustainability practices in Outdoor brands in Ireland

Abstract

This study has the purpose of immersing into the topics of sustainable practices by the outdoor industry and its relationship with marketing; how does consumers perceive the efforts made by companies in said industry in favour of the environment.

Consequence of human activity is the deterioration of natural resources as well as the degradation of our environment. In recent years, efforts have been multiplied by the industry to change its business structure and strategy to contribute to this problem; specifically, the outdoor companies, being consistent with its philosophy and origins, have been developing environmentally friendly products as well as investments to convert their traditional supply chain based on carbon footprints towards clean and green practices.

Part of the goals of this research is to know if the final consumers are aware of these efforts made by the Outdoor companies and if there is a gender trend on said knowledge. Added to the above, through a quantitative survey, primary data was collected among 142 Irish consumers to obtain numerical and statistical information that will evaluate the research hypotheses. As a result, it was concluded that consumers are willing to pay extra money to buy an outdoor brand that is known to have sustainable practices against another that does not, especially the segment Mature adults (55 years and older) are the segment of the population most committed to the sustainable practices of Outdoor industry firms. Based on the results obtained, even if consumers who maintain recycling and green habits as part of their lifestyles are willing to pay extra for a particular brand, they are unaware about the sustainable practices that their favourite brands are carrying out. Outdoor companies within their marketing mix should consider online and offline communication channels to increase the engagement within their target audience regarding this topic.

The road is still long to go and for now, in a vast majority of the respondents, people is concerned about global warming and they are expecting greater efforts from Outdoor brands in the near future.