The results are in: buyers have higher standards than ever before. According to a new Harris Poll survey of 1,000 people commissioned by Google Cloud, 82% of consumers say they want to buy from brands whose values ​​align with their own.

These values ​​can vary by category, explained Giusy Buonfantino, vice president of consumer packaged goods at Google Cloud. “Clothing might have a cotton sourcing element,” she told Retail Brew. “Food can have a totally different value proposition that they need to encounter and know about.”

Green light: A major theme is – you guessed it – sustainability. Just over half (52%) of respondents said they want to support sustainable brands, while 66% look for eco-friendly businesses and 55% say they would pay more to shop from them.

• But that doesn’t mean consumers aren’t skeptical: 72% think companies and brands overestimate their sustainability efforts.

“Transparency on their sustainability goals and messages for the consumer is, of course, requested,” Buonfantino said. “That’s why sometimes that value proposition, those marriages with consumers and brands aren’t there.”

The only thing that can exceed brand values ​​is brand availability. As many as 98% of shoppers said they would buy from another brand or search another channel if the one they preferred was not in stock, a problem plaguing many retailers.

The big picture: Overcoming these barriers, Buonfantino said, will involve personalizing consumer outreach through data collection, clearly and transparently communicating sustainability values ​​and goals, and rewarding shoppers for their loyalty to sustainability issues. supply chain.—KM