SUSTAINABLE MARKETING: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN CONTEXT OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The society has changed its habits, and public demand requires a more extensive offer of environmentally friendly goods and services on the market, including more products of plant origin. New plant-based products continuously appear on the market. As competition in the segment of plant-based beverages intensifies, brands are forced into differentiating their products by
including elements of sustainable marketing in their marketing materials to induce consumers into making purchase decisions and purchases. This study aims to find out which sustainable marketing elements contribute to consumer decisions to purchase and consume plant-based beverages. The article presents the results and trends based on the 1 st stage of the study – a pilot survey and structured in-depth expert interviews. The pilot survey identified the key sustainable marketing elements in consumer decisions to purchase plant-based beverages: product availability at food supermarkets; advertising at point of sale indicating price discounts; healthy product composition and raw materials; convenient in-store placement, price discounts and natural raw materials, etc. Based on the results of the pilot survey, there were changes made in the consumer questionnaire,
and the 2nd stage of the study – a survey of the Latvian population to find out the complex factors affecting consumer buying decisions – was launched in February 2024.