SEPAWA 2011 sustainability survey results:

A diffErEnt AnglE (PArt 2)

As part of genencor’s ongoing ambition to have a significant impact on the sustainability of every household throughout the world, we have been conducting some research into the perception of green products in the marketplace. You may have seen our Sustainability Survey results from the Cesio 2011 event earlier this year. We followed this up with another survey at the recent SEPAWA conference to provide us with a more robust sample size. Over 100 delegates at the SEPAWA conference shared their views on consumers’ perceptions of green products. this document compares the results of the two European market surveys and captures a market perspective on this issue.

Overall the results confirmed the findings from Cesio 2011 indicating that there is a clear view on how green products are perceived in the marketplace from the industry viewpoint.

Key findings from the SEPAWA survey

industry figureheads believe:

• Consumersranksustainability“quitehighly”in their product purchase decision criteria.

• “Food”istheproductcategoryinwhichtrendsto purchase green products is most pronounced.

• Consumersare“generallyconfident”thatproducts labelled ‘green’ live up to their claims.

• Productscontaining“Moreenvironmentallyfriendly/naturalingredients”wasthemostimportant characteristic for a consumer to consider it to be green.

• Thereisadegreeofuncertaintyoverwhetherconsumers understand that a phosphate-free detergent is more environmentally friendly.

• The“perceptionofhighercost”remainsthe biggest barrier to consumers purchasing more green products.

to find out more about our research into sustainable solutions, visit www.genencor.com/hsi

1. How highly do you feel consumers and/or households rank sustainability/green issues when making purchase decisions?

Our findings

Thisquestionwasaskedtoestablishhowimportantindustryfiguresfeltconsumersrankedaproduct’sgreencredentials when making their purchase decisions. results from SEPAWA were almost identical to those at Cesio, with 53% of respondents believing that consumers consider sustainability to rank “quite highly” when making purchases (Cesio, 51%).

this indicates that the industry believes sustainability to be a consideration when making purchases but there are other factors that could still outweigh the importance of this factor.

Quite highly

Not that highly

Not highly

Very highly

51%

40%

7% 2%

Quite highly

Not that highly

Not highly

Very highly

53%

40%

6% 1%

Quite highly

Not that highly

Not highly

Very highly

51%

40%

7% 2%

Quite highly

Not that highly

Not highly

Very highly

51%

40%

7% 2%

Quite highly

Not that highly

Not highly

Very highly

51%

40%

7% 2%

Quite highly

Not that highly

Not highly

Very highly

51%

40%

7% 2%

Cesio results SEPAWA results

2. In which areas do you feel that the trend towards purchasing sustainable/green products is most pronounced? Please choose up to two answers only.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Percentage (%)

Personal hygiene

Building (insulation, glazing etc.)

Clothing

Food

Detergents

Appliances/electrics

8

8.8

21.8

20.1

3.2

3.1

30.3

34.6

25.5

23.3

11.2

10.1

Cesio results

SEPAWA results

Our findings

When respondents were asked in what product category they perceived consumer purchases to be more influenced by the environmental credentials, there was a clear preference – Food (34.6%). this was even more pronounced than in the findings from Cesio (30.3%).

the top 3 responses remained the same as with Cesio once more indicating there is a strong consensus on this issue within developed markets. Detergents came second with 23.3% of the vote (Cesio, 25.5%) and Personal Hygiene products were the third most popular choice with 20.1% (Cesio, 21.8%).

However, due to the majority of the respondent base being involved in the detergent industry this may have resulted in a disproportionate emphasis on this product category as an answer. What was striking was that Appliances/Electricals were again given a low score – in this instance just 10.1% (Cesio, 11.2%). this is of particular significance when one considers that washing machines and dishwashers fall under this category meaning the entire cleaning process could be made less sustainable if environmentally friendly detergents and machines are not used in collaboration.

3. How confident do you feel consumers are that products labelled green/environmentally friendly on the market today actually live up to their claims?

Our findings

Overall respondents were slightly less convinced that consumers believe products live up to their green claims at SEPAWA than Cesio. 47% of respondents felt consumers were “generally confident” compared with 54% at Cesio.

However, because the pattern of results was so similar to Cesio we do not believe that the slight difference indicates a lessening of industry confidence of green product claims within the consumer’s mindset.

Generally confident

Not very confident

Not at all confident

Very confident

54%

37%

4% 5%

Cesio results SEPAWA results

Generally confident

Not very confident

Not at all confident

Very confident

47%

41%

6% 6%

Generally confident

Not very confident

Not at all confident

Very confident

54%

37%

4% 5%

Generally confident

Not very confident

Not at all confident

Very confident

54%

37%

4% 5%

Generally confident

Not very confident

Not at all confident

Very confident

54%

37%

4% 5%

Generally confident

Not very confident

Not at all confident

Very confident

54%

37%

4% 5%

4. Which green issues do you think consumers find most important when considering/purchasing detergent products? Please choose up to three answers only.

Our findings

At the previous Cesio study we had asked participants to rank each criteria in order of importance on a scale of 1 to 6, where 1 was the most important and 6 was the least. in order to bring greater clarity to the results of the samequestionweaskedrespondentsattheSEPAWAconferencetoselectthe3mostrelevantoftheabovecriteria, rather than rank all 6 options.

TheresultsfromSEPAWAservedtostrengthenthescoresofthetop3selectionsatCesio–the“Abilitytoclean atlowtemperatures”,the“Abilitytocleaninshorterwashcycles”andthroughtheuseof“Moreenvironmentallyfriendly/naturalingredients”.

However,atSEPAWAtheuseof“Moreenvironmentallyfriendly/naturalingredients”overtookthe“Abilitytowashatlowtemperatures”asthemostimportantgreencriteriawhenpurchasingdetergents.AtSEPAWA,the use of “More environmentally friendly/natural ingredients” was selected by 30.6% of the study sample, followed closely by the “Ability to wash at low temperatures” (26.9%) and the “Ability to clean in shorter wash cycles” (18.7%).

100

75

50

25

0

Perc

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Less

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dM

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Less

pac

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Less

Abi

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in

shor

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ash

cycl

es

Abi

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at

low

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pera

ture

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14.9

21.5

23.1

13.2

17.4

9.9

6.6

17.4

20.7

23.1

19.0

13.2

21.519.0

16.5

40.5

23.1

11.6

6.6

1.7

21.5

48.8

14.0

9.9

3.32.5

19.8

26.4

21.5

9.9

3.3

32.2

27.3

13.2

5.0

0.8

5

4

3

2

1

6

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25

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at

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30.6

14.5

18.7

26.9

3.65.7

Cesio results SEPAWA results

5. Do you believe that consumers understand that phosphate free detergents are better for the environment than a detergent with phosphates included?

Our findings

When asked whether they believed consumers understood that a phosphate-free detergent was beneficial for the environment versus one which included phosphates, industry figureheads had a slightly stronger view that they were aware of this (51%) than at Cesio (44%).

not only does this confirm the findings from Cesio but it also indicates that industry figureheads believe there may still be some work to do in landing this message with consumers by detergent manufacturers. Either that or detergent manufacturers do not have a clear understanding on how consumers view this aspect of a detergent.

Cesio results SEPAWA results

No

Don’t know

Yes44%

45%

11%

No

Don’t know

Yes51%

38%

11%

No

Don’t know

Yes44%

45%

11%

No

Don’t know

Yes44%

45%

11%

No

Don’t know

Yes44%

45%

11%

6. What do you feel are the biggest barriers to consumers purchasing more green/environmentally friendly products?

3

17.1

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Percentage (%)

5.7

Lack of affinity/loyalty for “green” brands

Not enough products on the market

Lack of interest for “green” issues

Perception that the”green” label is a marketing gimmick

Perception of reduced quality/performance

Perception of higher cost

Low awareness/understanding

7.4

8.7

12.4

17.4

31.2

15.5

34.2

24.6

13.6

5.5

3.5

Cesio results

SEPAWA results

Our findings

in terms of the biggest barriers preventing consumers from purchasing more environmentally friendly products, the results from SEPAWA were much clearer than at Cesio. 34.2% of the respondent base selected the “Perception of higher cost” as the biggest barrier (Cesio, 31.2%). this was followed by the “Perception of reduced performance/quality” with 24.6% (Cesio, 17.4%) and a “Low awareness/understanding” with 15.6% (Cesio, 17.1%) of green products in the marketplace.

the perception of higher cost could be somewhat of a barrier to the purchase of green products. However, informing consumers that paying a little more upfront for a green product could have financial benefits in the long term with regard to energy and water consumption and could be a way of overcoming this.

In conclusion

the results from SEPAWA are very promising as they support to a large degree, the findings from Cesio. this suggests that there is a strong consensus on the issue of green products within the industry from a developed market perspective.

these findings also appear to support those that genencor reported in a much wider study conducted with north American consumers – the Household Sustainability index earlier this year.

Sustainability is something that needs to be applied throughout the entire supply chain and requiresajointeffortfrompartnersateverystage.genencor continues to develop new enzyme solutions that enable detergent manufacturers to produce high performing green detergents with environmental benefits.

To learn more about Genencor’s Household Sustainability Index, as well as other projects we are undertaking to make a greener future for all, please visit www.genencor.com/hsi

We also look to work with machine manufacturers, trade associations and other third parties to develop optimal green solutions. Communicating the benefits of this should be made a priority of all the companies involved in the detergent supply chain. together we can make a significant impact on the sustainability of every household worldwide.

Cesio, 8th World Surfactant and Business Convention, Vienna, Austria

6th-8th June 2011

this conference organised by Cesio, the European Surfactants Association, offered experts in the field of surfactants to air their views on the state and direction of the industry. it was attended by business people, application specialists, r&d and regulatory affairs professionals. Under the theme of“Sustainabilityofthesurfactantindustryinahighlyregulatedworld”thecongresscoveredaspects affecting the entire value chain. Scientific, economic, and technical issues, applications, market trends, safety and regulatory frameworks were all subjects up for discussion.

SEPAWA, 58th Congress and European Detergents Conference, Fulda, Germany

12th-14th October 2011

SEPAWA is one of the largest expert associations in Europe with more than 1,300 members. four regional groups, three specialised groups (Professional Cleaning, legislative-Environment-Consumer, Applied Cosmetics), the german Society of Perfumers within SEPAWA and five international sections are designed to encourage an interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge and experience. the different groups organised lectures, excursions and conferences.

2011 Events

www.genencor.com