Straits Times 24 Apr 10;
MIDDLE- and upper-income Singaporeans are sceptical shoppers, and are willing to spend on eco-friendly products, according to a Reader's Digest survey released yesterday.
Conducted in October, the survey polled 1,000 Singaporeans on their most trusted brands and studied how they placed their trust.
It found that three quarters of shoppers here are willing to pay a bit extra to have a green conscience, rather than buying cheap or value brands.
'In the last decade, we have become more conscious of environmental friendliness, and you see this taking shape in our shopping choices,' said Ms Gwen Loong, Reader's Digest Asia's group advertising director.
But too much of a price increase still deters shoppers - the survey found that consumers would accept, at most, an 8 per cent price difference between an eco-friendly product and its regular equivalent.
Half of the 1,000 respondents were selected from Reader's Digest's subscribers, while the others were chosen from research firm Synovate's database.
Respondents chosen were aged 20 or above, have at least a secondary school education, and are among the top 50 per cent of the population ranked by household income.
The survey also found that whether it's buying a carton of milk or airline tickets, proven research matters the most to shoppers when figuring out which brand to trust.
More than a third ranked research and development findings as the most important reason in deciding a product's credibility. Celebrity endorsement was placed the lowest.
There were also striking differences between different demographics. Those in their twenties, as well as women of all ages, tend to trust brands more if friends recommended them.
Ms Betty Wu, research director of Synovate, said this could be because shopping tends to be a 'very social conversation topic', especially among women.
Ms Loong added that many 20-somethings use social media, which means more could be taking their shopping cues from their friends over Twitter, Facebook and blogs.
The survey is part of an Asia-wide look at how shoppers trust brands, with seven other markets also polled. They were: China, India, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand.
Singapore's findings generally dovetailed with those of the other markets.
For instance, respondents in all eight put the least faith in celebrity endorsements. The majority also based their trust on research findings.
Reader's Digest also asked Singaporeans to name trusted brands across 13 local categories and 30 regional categories.
About a third of the top brands named were local, including Singapore Airlines, Jean Yip, CapitaLand, PropNex, FairPrice and SingTel.
TESSA WONG
