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Technology isn’t an industry that consumers usually associate with sustainability. In fact, many of the materials used to create things like smartphones, tablets and other popular gadgets are notoriously not eco-friendly. But there are some companies looking to change that. And gadgets like the ones in this list by Popular Mechanics offer some more sustainable alternatives to traditional tech gadgets. So how many consumers are interested in buying sustainable technology? We asked 1,000 respondents about their own tech buying habits and their thoughts on sustainability within the industry.
Sustainable Technology
In Ask Your Target Market’s latest online survey, just 6% of respondents said that they only ever buy tech items or gadgets that they consider to be eco-friendly. 14% said they buy sustainable technology most of the time. 30% do so about half the time. 28% said they rarely ever purchase tech items that they consider to be sustainable. 8% never do. And 14% were not sure.Apple and Samsung were the most popular tech brands mentioned by respondents who have made sustainable tech purchases. But some also brought up other technology brands like Dell, HP, LG, Google and Microsoft.
Consumer Habits
In general, 51% of consumers said that they are more likely to purchase tech items if they know that those items are sustainable or environmentally friendly. However, just 31% said that they go out of their way to research the sustainability of their tech purchases or the brands they plan to buy from.
Future Buyers
Looking forward, 45% of respondents said that they’re at least somewhat likely to consider sustainability when making their next tech purchase. And 52% of those respondents said that they go out of their way to research sustainability when making tech purchases. Those who are likely to take sustainability into account when making tech purchases seem to be fairly ambitious and somewhat competitive in their hobbies and when making purchases.
Key Takeaways
About half of consumers seem to be open to purchasing sustainable tech items. But most won’t go out of their way to find that information. So brands that want to promote sustainable tech gadgets need to include that information in marketing materials so that it’s easy for customers to make that connection. In addition, those who are most likely to care about buying sustainable tech seem to be both ambitious and competitive. So brands that position their products against others in the market and show how their devices can perform better or allow users to gain some kind of advantage could be more successful when trying to appeal to eco-conscious tech buyers.You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Plugged by Keoni Cabral under CC BY 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.
