Influence of Sustainable Marketing on the Responsible Attitudes of consumers towards the environment 2.1.3. Consumers are Adopting the Use of Sustainable Products
As the economies of countries and population is growing rapidly, emerging markets have become one of the most attractive markets of luxury brands in the world (Kapferer and Bastien, 2012). Accordingly, the consumption of luxury brands has been increased by 25%. However, the perceptions of customers for sustainable luxury brands are changing. The effective social and digital media marketing of luxury brands has motivated consumers for the use of sustainable products (Kapferer and Michaut-Denizeau, 2017). However, previously conducted studies have highlighted the perceptions of consumers (Kong et al., 2020). Owing to an increase in social and digital media marketing consumers are paying close attention to the social meanings of the products, and they also like to use the material possessions for the development of a responsible attitude towards environment. Sustainable marketing on social and digital media have increased the social values that refer to the desires of the individuals to possess luxury fashion brands that may serve as a symbolic marker of the group membership. Owing to the increased sustainable marketing, consumers are using sustainable production for enhancing their social status (Jain, 2019). According to Berghaus et al. (2014), the consumption of luxury brands is serving as one of the conventions of the social class for consumers. In order to understand consumer behaviour, a thorough understanding of culture is necessary. The study of Amatulli et al. (2017) highlighted that different values could affect consumer behaviour, i.e., the attitudinal, contextual, personal values and cultural aspects. The seminal findings of Featherstone (2007) have comprehensively elaborated the change of consumer culture due to the emergence of modernism in the society. It has been found that consumer behavior changes significantly due to the changes of consumer culture, which is significantly driven by modernism. Sustainable marketing has encouraged the ‘modern’ consumers for adopting the use of sustainable products so that they would be able to enhance their social status. Hence, it can be examined that sustainable marketing have actually influenced the lifestyle of consumers as they have adopted the consumption of sustainable products. Sustainable marketing has impacted the socio-cultural factor of consumers owing to which consumers are now paying more attention towards the consumption of sustainable products.
Motivation for Adaptation of Sustainable Products
The consumers of sustainable fashion products perceive the environmental performance of the products that they are using. The perceptions of the customers are directly associated with the ‘green values’ for satisfying their needs. This satisfaction created by sustainable marketing motivates consumers for the adaptation of sustainable products. However, the first demand of the customers is of the value of the brand, which is created by sustainable marketing through the use of social and digital media tools. Keller’s customer-based brand equity and consumption-value theory argue that there are three types of perceived values of the consumers that are attached to the product. These include such as the functional value, the social value and emotional value (Gürhan-Canli et al., 2016). Enhanced functional value, social value and emotional value results in the removal of barriers for the adaptation of sustainable products. Considerably, the functional, emotional and social values are associated with the value of the product communicated through community groups and discussion boards available on social and digital media, which can have a significant impact on the sustainability perceptions of the consumers. For instance, a product made out of the organic cotton may protect the body of the user, while its appealing design may attract the attention of the customer (emotional value). With an increase in desires of consumers, motivations are increased and barriers such as high prices of sustainable product are reduced (Amatulli et al., 2018). As such, the perceptions of the individuals are also developed while their needs are also fulfilled by consuming less harmful environment. One can say that the enhanced perceptions of consumers enable them to buy sustainable product at high prices. The previously conducted study of Wei and Jung (2017) have highlighted consumer perceptions of the value of the product and constructs of green value results in satisfaction and enhanced social status which removes barriers involved in the adaptation of sustainable products. However, this study has not highlighted the perceptions of Chinese consumers, which considerably creates a gap in the study. Hence, there is a need to conduct a study to determine the perceptions of Chinese consumers for luxury products and sustainability. Motivation is one of the major elements to persuade consumers to make a purchas