2025 Higher Impact: The power of purpose-driven brands

The relationship between consumers and brands is constantly evolving. Trends, behaviors, and economic winds are always shifting, and these factors all help inform the purchasing decisions that consumers make every day. This is why, since 2021, Amazon Ads has conducted the Higher Impact study to understand the values that matter to consumers and how they impact brand preference. This year, Amazon Ads focused the research on Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.—working to understand what priorities consumers in these regions consider while shopping. ¹

Research findings demonstrate that consumers remain budget-conscious, they want to support brands with values that align with their own, and they are taking into consideration sustainability and brand authenticity while continuously re-evaluating their needs. Brands need to be more intentional than ever when connecting with consumers, and relevancy at scale can help drive meaningful moments between brands and consumers. Explore the full study to understand how brands can build trust with consumers through shared values.

With inflation rising and falling throughout the past year, consumers are minding their shopping budgets, with 81% of consumers stating they are re-evaluating their needs to shop more effectively. In the same vein, 77% of respondents said they have recently modified their way of life to concentrate more on things that are really important to them.

As consumers reflect on their shopping needs, their values still play an important role in their decision-making. In fact, eight in 10 believe in supporting/buying from small businesses in times of economic uncertainty, and 79% of respondents said they are more likely to purchase a product or services from brands whose values align with their own.

Despite consumers continuing to be budget-conscious, 67% of respondents said they make it a point to support brands that donate money or supplies to causes that are important to them, with U.K. shoppers leading the way.

What are the top causes most important to consumers?

Healthcare, wellness, economic uncertainty, and mental health rank top of mind for consumers—underscoring the priorities of wellbeing and finance at the forefront of shoppers’ minds.

Top 4 causes that are most important to consumers

As consumers are voting with their dollars, it’s important for brands to pay attention to what their customers care deeply about, especially as they are more closely monitoring their spending.

Even when facing shifts in the economy, consumers maintain loyalty to brands with values that align with their own. This shows the power of connecting with consumers through shared values.

Interactions between brands and consumers can be exceptionally fast but also exceptionally meaningful. From shopping, to streaming, browsing, gaming, and more—consumers interact with brands across a myriad of devices and formats, which means brands have ample opportunities to reach them with messaging that can earn trust and build enduring relationships.

But it’s a delicate art, determining the right amount of engagement with shoppers.

Even with so many products to choose from, 65% of respondents said that when they buy a product, the brand is very important to them. Brands matter to consumers—and so do their values.

Consumer expectations of brands and their commitments to global social and ethical causes has been evolving. Most notably, 87% of respondents said that more brands should do their part in helping the world, especially during difficult times like these, and 79% of respondents said it’s important to them that brands take action in times of humanitarian crises and natural disasters.

While circumstance and experiences may influence how brands can earn trust, it can vary widely from quality of products, to customer service, to brand reputation, and more. It’s important for brands to heed these evolving expectations from consumers to understand how they rank these aspects and issues in importance, and to focus on driving quality experiences across all customer engagements.

Top three ways brands can earn trust with consumers:

• Good value for money (36%)
• Quality products/services (28%)
• Offer low prices (26%)

As brands seek to develop more intentional and relevant engagements with shoppers, taking into account their values, experience preferences, and expectations around brand or product authenticity will be essential to earning their trust. Brands can work to meet shoppers where they are by leveraging omnichannel marketing solutions, like Amazon DSP, which provides choice and flexibility to drive meaningful moments between brands and consumers.

Connect your brand to customers with increased precision fueled by Amazon signals across their journey. Deliver more relevant ad experiences across digital touchpoints informed by Amazon’s trillions of browsing, shopping, and streaming signals. Our interoperable tech enhances your media investments by combining Amazon’s exclusive signals with publishers’ proprietary data, in concert with your first-party insights and third-party data providers, to reach the right audience, at the right time, with the right message.

In 2024, more than half of consumer respondents surveyed stated that they actively seek out brands that are more sustainable in their business practices, with a significant increase (+14%) in this amongst U.K. consumers year-over-year (YoY). Consumers who identify as women (66%) and Gen Z (74%) were also top groups of respondents who actively seek out brands that are more sustainable in their business practices—signaling the importance of this topic for these groups of shoppers.

Sustainability is an expansive topic—here are some of the most important environmental issues according to consumers surveyed:

• Climate change/global warming (34%)
• Water pollution/drinking water quality (25%)
• Plastic waste (24%)
• Air pollution/air quality/smog (22%)
• Loss of wildlife habitats/parks and wilderness preservation (22%)

Consumers care about brands’ commitments to sustainability

It’s clear that consumers are willing to support brands that care about sustainability and that take authentic efforts in demonstrating their environmental commitments. Consumers are also expecting more action from brands on this topic, in fact 75% of respondents stated they are tired of brands acting like they are exempt from environmental responsibility (with nearly all cohorts in the 70th percentile in agreement on this).

Brands should consider heeding these expectations from shoppers, especially since nearly six in 10 (59%) of respondents said it’s important that the companies/brands they buy from are committed to sustainability. This was even higher among specific groups including: respondents from the U.K. (65%), consumers who identify as non-binary (65%), those who identify as women (61%), Gen Z and Millennials (both 65%), and urban respondents (64%).

Sustainability-minded shoppers are willing to invest in brands that support this topic—in fact, more than half (51%) of respondents said they were willing to pay more for a product that has a third-party sustainability certification, with shoppers in the U.K. leading the way (54%). From a generational perspective, both Gen Z and Millennial respondents (59% for each cohort) said they were willing to pay a higher price as well compared to just 37% of Boomers.

“Walking the walk” and the evolving expectations of sustainability-minded consumers

Shoppers are becoming savvier in their support and genuine interest in more-sustainable brands—and they’re doing their research on brand commitments to the cause. When asked how likely they are to conduct research into sustainability or more sustainable options prior to making a purchase across 13 categories ² , consumers indicated that they were most likely to do so when it comes to grocery (51%) and automotive (41%). This was also very important to younger generations, like Gen Z and Millennials, who ranked all of the thirteen categories with at least 40%+ in likelihood of carrying out research on more sustainable options prior to purchasing.

As consumers are diving into research on brand commitments to sustainability, respondents noted the following as the most trustworthy sources when researching sustainability/sustainable options prior to purchase:

• Third-party certification (e.g., Fairtrade, Energy star, Organic, Certified Carbon Neutral, Animal Welfare Approved, etc.) (34%)
• Sustainability experts, advocates, and groups (apps and/or websites) (30%)
• Search engine (e.g., Google, Bing, Yahoo) to find general information (30%)

And when it comes to “walking the walk” on sustainability commitments, 54% of consumer respondents said they think the most authentic way for a company/brand to demonstrate commitment to sustainability is through their core offerings (i.e., more sustainable products and services).

Brands may want to explore the value opportunity of taking action to qualify their products or services via credible third-party certifications to help sustainability-minded consumers navigate their shopping experiences. Programs like Climate Pledge Friendly (CPF) can help make that possible by highlighting products with sustainability certifications via their CPF badge on products.

Climate Pledge Friendly collaborates with trusted third-party certifications and has created their own certifications to highlight products that meet sustainability standards and support their commitment to help preserve the natural world.

Reaching sustainability-minded shoppers with Amazon Ads

Shoppers are paying attention to the products they purchase, the brands they support, and where their preferences land amidst shifting priorities. According to internal analysis by Amazon, more than 34 million shoppers in the US purchased three or more products with a sustainability feature(s) ³ on Amazon over the course of 12 months. ⁴ These sustainability-minded shoppers on Amazon in the US tend to be: ⁵

• 36% Millennials (which is +18% higher than the average Amazon shopper)
• 62% Female (which is +13% higher than the average Amazon shopper)
• 36% have a household income of greater than $150K (which is 21% higher than the average Amazon shopper)
• 43% have a bachelor’s degree or higher (which is 25% higher than the average Amazon shopper)

Connecting with these values-led consumers can take many forms, including by reaching them where they browse, shop, stream, and game on Amazon. Amazon Ads helps brands understand their audiences more deeply across these areas of engagement and where shoppers like to spend their time.