Consumer preference for circular product: a question of comprehension, emotion and labelling

Abstract There is relative consensus on the importance of the consumer’s role in the evolution from the traditional Linear Economy to the new circular economy (CE), fundamentally through their growing preference for products with circularity. Recent studies point to three directions to explore in order to foster this preference. Firstly, it points to the importance of consumer comprehension of the CE, particularly with regard to the objectives to be achieved and the proposed ways of realising them. Next, it points to the decisive contribution of the consumer’s emotional involvement with the CE, which comes not only from their comprehension of it, but also from other factors that have not been sufficiently clarified. Lastly, identifying the degree of circularity in the available purchasing options is pointed as crucial, although there are difficulties in converging both on how to assess the circularity inherent in each type of product and on how to publicise it to the consumer. The authors reflect on each of the three paths listed, systematising the proposals already published for each of them and suggesting complementary approaches, and propose their framing according to the various types of circularities (already identified in the available literature). The proposed solution is validated using a focus group/Delphi technique involving representatives of producers, traders, consumers, communication and marketing specialists, psychologists and researchers.