The importance of product lifetime labelling for purchase decisions: Strategic implications for corporate sustainability based on a conjoint analysis in Germany

Abstract

This article studies the influence of product lifetime labelling on purchase decisions. Based on consumer theory of Lancaster, experimental survey data are collected from a population representative sample of 499 German consumers, using choice‐based conjoint analysis. Hierarchical Bayes utility modelling suggests a substantial positive effect of product lifetime labelling on purchase decisions. However, the effect is not linear but decreasing with higher levels of product lifetime. The relative importance of the product lifetime label is found to be higher than that of the product's energy consumption or brand. Additionally, we show that the introduction of product lifetime labelling renders the positive influence of existing brands on purchase decisions less impactful. Therefore, strategic implications for companies differ substantially, depending on companies' current brand‐building. Besides implications for business strategy, the study informs marketers and policymakers about the potential of product lifetime labelling to stimulate the supply of, and demand for, more durable products.

Hey, did you see that label? It's sustainable!: Understanding the role of sustainable labelling in shaping sustainable purchase behaviour for sustainable development

“…Second, the extensive review shows that there is a lack of research addressing the gap concerning consumer's attitude, intention and actual behaviour towards sustainable purchase and consumption behaviour. Thus, there is a need to better understand what aspects can be leveraged to address the attitude–intention–behaviour gap in terms of sustainable purchase behaviours found prevalent in literature (Jacobs & Hörisch, 2021; Sultan et al, 2020; Testa et al, 2020). Further, from a practice‐oriented lens, with amassed efforts on the part of marketers to communicate sustainability information regarding their products using sustainable labels in emerging markets, it is important to consider this a crucial research issue.…”

Until death do us part? In‐depth insights into Dutch consumers’ considerations about product lifetimes and lifetime extension

“…Regarding the potential of lifetime labels to better inform consumers about the expected lifetime (Braithwaite et al, 2015;Gnanapragasam et al, 2018;Jacobs & Hörisch, 2021), our findings contribute by demonstrating that such labels can only support consumers if they provide relevant and reliable information. Although improved product repairability has been proposed as a solution to extend product lifetimes (Bovea et al, 2018;Den Hollander, 2018), our findings suggest that incorporating repairability into lifetime labels could cause worries among consumers regarding products' durability.…”

Measuring product lifetime extension potential by increasing the expected product lifetime: Methodology and case study

“…In this stage, for example, producers of ACs who make efforts to extend their product lifetimes can advertise a characteristic that their products can be used for additional years, to consumers during purchase. As information on product lifetime is as much a crucial factor for products to be selected by consumers as the product price (Jacobs & Hörisch, 2021), such an appeal increases the probability of their products being chosen by consumers. Moreover, the obtained results in this study indicate that products designed for longer product use can be actually used for the designed longer product lifetime through increasing the expected product lifetime.…”

“…In contrast, Hou et al (2020) used structural equation modeling to show that emotional satiation perceived from repeated product consumption stimulates product replacement decisions. Jacobs and Hörisch (2021) clarified that product durability through product lifetime label had higher importance on purchase decisions of washing machines as much as product price.…”