Is the current crisis making us think more about how we shop?
In the 31 days to April 14th there were 261k people taking to social media to discuss local, ethical, and sustainable online shopping, according to Brandwatch. Discussion around this kind of shopping has jumped up since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak. When we compare the last 31 days to Dec 2019, the conversation has grown by 362%.
In particular, English-language mentions of sustainable products (items which don’t deplete the Earth of natural resources) on social media were up 217% from December, with 18k mentions in the last month. Mentions of purchases made for personal ethical reasons were also up from December, by 132%. Conversations were focused on fashion (1.8k mentions), as well as cosmetics like soap (1.5k mentions).
Shopping locally had the highest increase in mention volumes – since December, mentions increased by 440% and looking at mentions of local businesses, support for local grocery stores has been an important topic for consumers, with 16k mentions on social.