116 5 Result of Analysis and Interpretations
follows: “The key challenge has been in making the case for investment in something
that might currently be intangible.”
The second sub-category is the lack of customer education. As the concept is stillin its early stages of development only a limited number of customers are familiar
with it. Customers are unaware of the benefits of buying circular products, such as
non-toxicity and/or reusability. Organizations believe that if customers were well
educated about circular economy this would:
• Facilitate the realization of the concept because used products are no longer
treated as waste but according to their further purpose, e.g. the organization in
case Alpha stated that: “You know we would hope other companies follow our lead
on this and try to do the same. You know that would help educate more people
about thinking of clothing and apparel as something you can recycle instead of
having it end up in the landfill.”• Through education, enable the customer to make well informed buying deci-
sions where price is not necessarily the determining factor in this decision. The
organization in case Epsilon complained about uneducated customers who
were making decisions about whether or not to purchase a product solely based
on its price. The interviewee explained that “The problem is that customers are
not educated. When I am talking to potential customers and I tell them that
Cradle-to-Cradle products are absolutely free of toxic materials (...) they become
interested.” (see Appendix: German Quote 29).• Case Zeta saw that the organizations use of recycled resources and its efforts
to be more sustainable were seen as an interesting feature but of no significant
importance in the buying decision: “On the other hand our research shows that
design and price are the main criteria in the buying decision. Sustainability or
recycled resources are only valued as add-ons but never as main criterion for
mainstream customers” (see Appendix: German Quote 39).• Help customers to know the difference between the environmental labels and
concepts used and pursued by organizations. At present, there are many different
labels for consumers to navigate which makes it confusing for them. As many
customers are not well versed in these labels and concepts, the differences between
them are often difficult to recognize. Case Epsilon described this challenge as
follows: “In addition, there are too many certifications like ‘Blauer Engel’ and
so on which suggest all [products] are ecological and sustainable. Because there
are so many certifications, it is difficult to know what exactly each certification
stands for and how it can be manipulated” (see Appendix: German Quote 30).