'Luxury Ethical' EU Consumer?

Dear All,

What does it mean to be ethical? The term ethical is very wide and often used in a very loose fashion. Primarily to tap into the consumer conscience in hope for a sales uplift to reposition the brand qualities. The overall initiative of WLEC is in put the power of consumer choice back in their hands with knowledge and understanding on the terms of 'sustainable ethical economics'.

The following top-line list is a cross-board of ethical initiatives based upon internal and external business practises within an organisation.

The World Luxury Ethical Council: Ethical policy platform

Community Relations;
Corporate Governance;
Donations and Payments;
Environment;
Human Rights;
Marketplace Ethics;
Workforce.

Mintel Consumer Research clearly shows consumers want to know which companies respond to the ethical policy concerns in their everyday business. However, in the EU, the majority of people are dubious of the 'ethical' and 'responsible' claims made by business. 71% want more information on companies to decide for themselves whether a business is ethical or not.nMintel research shows that 63% of the EU public is prepared to pay a little extra for luxury products that meet higher ethical standards. The problem is there is little consensus over what constitutes 'responsible ethical business practise'. Across the board consumers are dubious about the claims businesses make; further consumer research in the EU market shows that:

68% believe companies pretend to be ethical to sell more products and services;

73% think it's not enough for companies to simply say they are ethical: but prove it;

82% believe its better for a company to be honest with consumers rather than pretend to be always squeaky clean.

The above ethical policy list will be an audit process conducted by 3rd party organisations which are independent of the World Luxury Ethical Council. There are presently 2 organisations which have agreed to work on the screening process, one for the internal audit and the other for the external audit. Upon which a rating system will then be put into place to show the consumer where the audited organisation ranks. Each ethical policy initiative will have its own ranking and some will be higher and lower than others. Its then up to the organisation which has been audited to maintain or improve on the areas which have been rated. The information will be provided to the consumer at large and their purchasing behaviour will decide to support the product or service in terms of the ethical standards set by the audited organisation. Rankings are not static, as the audit process is an annual process to maintain membership to the WLEC.

Bottom-line, I would like to be able to put the power of consumer choice back in their hands based on knowledge re: ethical standards, which supports the overall principle of 'sustainable ethical economics'. I don't expect all organisations to be perfect, but I believe we should provide opportunity in two areas:

best practise sharing
setting industry standards

All the best

Andreas Lim