The Impact of Sustainable Marketing Strategies on Basic Needs Accessibility and Environmental Sustainability: A Study in Saudi Arabia

This study examines whether sustainable marketing strategies achieve synergistic outcomes or face trade-offs between environmental and social objectives in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 context. Survey data from 384 consumers were analyzed using PLS-SEM to test relationships between four sustainable marketing strategies (green product development, sustainable pricing, promotion, and distribution) and dual sustainability outcomes, with Consumer Experience Perception as the mediator. Results reveal divergent pathways: strategies advancing environmental sustainability show negligible or negative impacts on basic needs accessibility, while those improving social access demonstrate minimal environmental benefits. Green Product Development strongly impacts Environmental Sustainability (β = 0.271) but not Basic Needs (β = −0.036). Conversely, Sustainable Pricing affects Basic Needs (β = 0.223) with negligible environmental impact (β = 0.003). Consumer Experience Perception universally mediates all relationships, with several strategies showing complete dependence on experiential translation. The model’s moderate explanatory power (R2 = 0.299 for ABN, 0.349 for ES) indicates sustainable marketing strategies represent necessary but insufficient conditions for sustainability transformation. Findings challenge prevailing frameworks by documenting systematic trade-offs rather than synergies, establishing boundary conditions for sustainability integration in emerging markets. Organizations must explicitly prioritize either environmental leadership or social impact rather than attempting both simultaneously.