*Article* **Major Shifts in Sustainable Consumer Behavior in Romania and Retailers' Priorities in Agilely Adapting to It**

**Theodor Purcărea 1, Valeriu Ioan-Franc 2, ¸Stefan-Alexandru Ionescu 3, Ioan Matei Purcărea 4, Victor Lorin Purcărea 5, Irina Purcărea 6, Maria Cristina Mateescu-Soare 5, Otilia-Elena Platon 7,\* and Anca-Olgut,a Orzan <sup>8</sup>**


**Abstract:** The sustainable consumption and integration of digital solutions with respect to sustainable consumption have been encouraged by the new European circular economy action plan. Digital adoption has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic; companies have been challenged to rapidly adapt to the constant evolution of consumer needs and expectations, leading to valuable insights into the advancement of green business practices and a consequent rethinking of their business model. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the major shifts in sustainable consumer behavior on the Romanian retail market within the context of the Green European Deal, and retailers' priorities in agilely adapting to these significant evolutions. Based on a comprehensive literature review on these major shifts and significant evolutions at the national and international levels, a quantitative study was carried out to evaluate the Romanian retail market and identify the major challenges faced by retailers in dealing with the new set of priorities. The data collection was conducted via a survey used in the retail environment, applied within a Romanian supermarket chain. The Romanian retail sector has a particular configuration, which may have an impact upon the study's generalizability. Located in Central and Eastern Europe at the crossroads of the EU, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and the Middle East, Romania is a leading destination for foreign direct investment, and it is recognized for the similarities of its distribution and sales channels, the range of its retail outlets, and the local retail market dominance on the Big Box segment by reputed major retailers. A spectacular evolution is recorded in Romania's e-commerce market, including from the point of view of the long-standing and memorable traditional relationship between Romania and China which was confirmed more recently by Romanian consumers who prefer to buy online from stores in China. Our consumer research provides retailers with deep consumer insights with regard to their priorities in their agile adaptation. According to our research, Romanian consumers are environmentally concerned consumers, displaying an increased awareness about the important role they play with respect to impacting sustainable production and consumption by adopting green purchase behavior. Our study also points to the fact that retailers, although faced with challenges in targeting consumers with customized messages to reinforce their brand perception on sustainability issues, do pay considerable attention to sustainability as a personal value embraced by

**Citation:** Purc ˘area, T.; Ioan-Franc, V.; Ionescu, ¸S.-A.; Purc ˘area, I.M.; Purc ˘area, V.L.; Purc ˘area, I.; Mateescu-Soare, M.C.; Platon, O.-E.; Orzan, A.-O. Major Shifts in Sustainable Consumer Behavior in Romania and Retailers' Priorities in Agilely Adapting to It. *Sustainability* **2022**, *14*, 1627. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/su14031627

Academic Editors: María del Carmen Valls Martínez, José-María Montero and Pedro Antonio Martín Cervantes

Received: 23 December 2021 Accepted: 24 January 2022 Published: 30 January 2022

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consumers and are willing to focus on digitizing their business processes to enable new, sustainable business models.

**Keywords:** sustainable consumer behavior; Green European Deal; retailers' priorities; agile operating model; sustainable smart store of the future; global consumers' perception

#### **1. Introduction**

There is a real need for a mindset shift among retailers in learning to incorporate sustainability into products and services while preparing for the continuous change they are trying to adapt to, moving forward (upskilling and reskilling) into the more unstable and unpredictable future (now normal, next normal, never normal), and better managing the relationship to rapid change and obvious anxiety [1]. Hence, there is a need to move beyond what retailers already know and to build agile adaptability at the confluence of circular economy, sustainability, and sustainable development.

It is therefore highly relevant and urgent now to consider the discrepancy between consumers' attitudes towards sustainable consumption and their purchasing behavior with respect to sustainable products, and to better understand the link between retailers' physical strategies and the sustainable smart store of the future. All of these are an invitation to more research about consumers' decision-making impacted by both their perspective towards sustainability and their willingness to participate in it, in order to make better and more informed choices in their omnichannel journey. The findings of this study can be of interest to scholars researching this topic, considering that consumer preferences and shopping patterns have never changed as quickly as in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer readiness to move to sustainable products has been the main driver of change (younger demographics, especially Generation Z, are, for example, aware of sustainability when it comes to their purchasing decisions). Moreover, consumer perceptions are inextricably linked to retailers, who need to be attentive to trends and build and maintain positive consumer perceptions of their brands. In addition to changes in the way they buy, the reasons why consumers buy have changed forever. Retailers, to renew their relationship with consumers, have had to rely operationally on accurate and in-depth data-based information. Consumers change their purchasing preferences according to their social, economic, and environmental impact. With the growth of the conscious consumer and the intention to make ecological and ethical purchasing decisions, retailers must integrate sustainability into the core of their business and look for new ways to grow by improving the efficiency of shopping, both online and offline, and being ready to meet the rapidly changing needs of consumers as the pandemic evolves. The increasing use of digital requires retailers to substantially increase their investment in omnichannel capabilities, which means expanding and aligning their strategic vision by monitoring and understanding all the points of interaction of consumers with retailers and brands. Consumers' changing of their purchasing behaviors has transformed the way retailers engage and interact with them. 'Digital' is not just about technology in business models, but also about people and mindsets. As the effects of the pandemic changed consumer habits, retailers must now adapt their strategies to continuously improve the experience they provide. However, this improvement is supported by optimizing operational efficiency along the supply chain to provide a convenient, personalized, and frictionless shopping journey across all channels. This paper focuses on:

• *The major shifts in sustainable consumer behavior* (increased consumer willingness to move towards sustainable products as well as to change their shopping habits in order to reduce their impact on the environment; enhanced consumer awareness about the key role consumers play in influencing sustainable production and consumption by adopting greener purchasing behaviors and attitudes; the reduction in the discrepancy between consumers' attitudes and their behavior concerning their sustainable

shopping decisions on the one hand and their intentions regarding the purchase of sustainable products on the other; increasing consumers' awareness of the concepts of UN SDGs, Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0) *on the Romanian retail market within the context of digital transformation and of Green European Deal*, and

• *Retailers' priorities in agilely adapting to these significant evolutions, by identifying risk areas* (associated with: the disruptive technologies, consumers' perceptions with regard to the outcome of investments made by the supermarket chain in sustainability, consumers' uncertainty and anxiety, consumers' resistance to change caused by convenience and especially price) *and opportunities* (the translation of the consumers' uncertainty into trust; increased focus on responding to sustainability as an increasingly personal value of consumers; partnerships with suppliers that develop sustainable products; leveraging the e-commerce channel to provide new opportunities for circular consumption; targeting consumers with agile messages and tailored issues, responding to their needs for better information and education, and aiding them to adopt more sustainable lifestyles and to make informed choices in the omnichannel world).

Little research has been done on these new shifts or on the significant challenges of the so-called new normal (and the path to the next normal); beyond some valuable work which has been done to date, more comprehensive studies are needed to fill the current research gaps. Retailers' agile adaptation (identifying areas of risk and opportunities) cannot ignore major changes in sustainable consumer behavior. Our questionnaire on sustainable consumer behavior in retail considered this urgent need to understand these major changes in sustainable consumer behavior. Now more than ever, retailers need to have a good understanding of the way consumers integrate sustainability in their purchasing behavior, especially since there is usually an attitude–behavior gap (what people say they are willing to do is different from what they are actually willing to do).

The structure of this paper is as follows: Introduction, Literature review, Hypothesis development, Research Methods, Results and discussions, Conclusions (Summary, Implications, Limitations, and Future research) and References.

#### **2. Literature Review**

A significant number of studies analyze the important concepts and trends mentioned below about these concepts, as well as their impact on the trends on the one hand, and on society and consumer product goods and the retail industry on the other hand. Vaguer is their impact on the deep nature of the connection between the major shifts in sustainable consumer behavior and retailers' priorities in agilely adapting to it. Section 1 is subdivided into the following subsections: Section 2.1 The relationship between the concepts of circular economy, sustainability, and sustainable development; Section 2.2 Digitalization and its influence on the retail industry (Consumers' relationship and engagement within digital transformation; retailers' phygital strategies and the sustainable smart store of the future); Section 2.3 The discrepancy between consumers' attitudes towards sustainable consumption and their behavior in the purchasing of sustainable products. The need of understanding retailers' sustainability journeys (Resolving the challenging green shopper dilemma; consumers' decision-making impacted by their perspective towards sustainability. Helping shoppers make sustainable choices; prioritizing sustainability in the consumer sector: purposeful retail and shopping; meeting and exceeding consumers' expectations by providing improved experience using the lens of sustainability); Section 2.4 Consumers' perspective in the world's largest market towards sustainable consumption (Global consumers' perception on sustainability imperative; continuous acceleration and focused expansion of the Chinese consumers' trends existing earlier in time, based on improving consumer experience; China's sustainable future is challenging the other main global actors, and not only); Section 2.5 The Romanian retail sector's key role in sustainable production and consumption, and the increasing role of sustainable consumer behavior in Romania (Romanian retail market, an important market for the supermarket chains; Romanian green consumers and implementation of sustainable development policies on the Romanian retail market).
