How Ethics & The Environment is Changing The Way We Do Business

At first glance, you may think this is a bad idea that works against you, but you can actually turn this into an opportunity in disguise. As of now, more people are starting to care about where their products come from and how it impacts the world around them. Gone are the days of mindless consumers just buying whatever they see on TV, customers are more sophisticated now and want to buy products and services that do minimal harm, whether it's the environment or human rights violations.

If you pay attention, you’ll notice that customers are more critical and more demanding and often require companies to be more transparent as to where they get their products& materials from. Companies like Apple have made great efforts to set up a system where you can bring in your old Apple products, and they will ship it out and recycle them by extracting all of the useful tech components and metals that can be remanufactured into new products. Google has made efforts to power all of its data centers with solar energy to help offset their electricity usage. The majority of restaurants and fast-food chains are expanding their options to cater to the growing vegan market.

They realize that customers are now changing the way they eat food and as a result are responding to the growing demands of the vegan population. Just recently the famous burger chain A&W announced that they are going to start selling plant-based burgers aka “vegan burgers” made by a famous company called Beyond Meat. This company is considered to be a high-tech food startup, and they are one of the first to try and create vegan meats that are scientifically designed to emulate the taste of real animal meat.

The transportation world is also going through some disruption and change thanks to Tesla. People are beginning to care more about the environment, and they understand the effects of how car pollution is accelerating climate change. As a result, when tesla started, there was already a large growing demand for electric cars. Because of this, Tesla was able to flourish and grow with constant demand from consumers who wanted to do their part. Now Tesla is in a position of being a market leader in the electric car world and has slowly inspired older car manufacturers to invest in their own electric car programs. Companies are simply looking to make a profit, and the direction companies take will vary depending on how consumers “vote” with their hard-earned cash. Companies from all industries and niches are changing the way they do business to cater to the rise of the ethical consumer.

We live in an amazing period of time, back in the day if you wanted to make a purchase that was “more ethical” people use to hate on that, but now its becoming a trend and being an ethical consumer is now the “cool thing”. Everyone from young people to older generation adults is doing their part and voting with their dollars. As you run your business, keep this in mind as you decide to add or discard different product lines. Start thinking of ways on how you can capitalize on the growing trends of the ethical consumer. By taking advantage of this trend, you can quickly become a market leader in your niche and as a result, stay ahead of your competition.