Consumers’ Perception of Eco-labels in South Africa

Abstract

This study explores South African consumers’ perceptions of eco-labels on products by investigating consumers’ awareness of eco-labels, consumers’ ability to evaluate label information and consumers’ degree of environmental concern. Over the past 20 years, eco- labels have been one of the most widely used voluntary instruments to indicate eco-friendly products. Eco-labels further help to foster and develop consumer awareness of their impact on the environment. Eco-labelling plays an important part in the consumer decision-making process because consumers are presented with the knowledge of products being environmentally friendly. Labels on products are powerful marketing tools that act as essential communication conveyers between businesses, public authorities and consumers. Environmental labels convey to consumers a sense of environmental consideration on the part of the manufacturer. Although past research has shown consumers easily adopt eco-labels and actively care about the environment, not much research has been done in the South African context. A quantitative study was employed to empirically investigate a sample of 120 respondents who completed a self-administered, structured questionnaire. The results showed that most respondents recognised the European Union energy label. Concerning eco-labels on deodorants, most respondents recognised the Ozone Friendly eco-label whereas the least respondents recognized the ALU aluminium recycling eco-label. Sufficient evidence was found that consumers are generally aware of the environmental impact of products. Consumers, however, often struggle to identify environmentally friendly goods and are unable to verify the environmental claims made by these goods. As this was an exploratory study, the results indeed assisted in identifying areas for future research.

Keywords

• eco-labels
• environment
• consumer