The impact of consumer familiarity on edible insect food product purchase and expected liking: The role of media trust and purchase activism

This study aims to investigate the impact of consumer familiarity with edible insect food products on purchase intentions and expected liking. Based on persuasion and information processing theories, this study examines the roles of media trust and purchase activism as underlying psychological mechanisms. The findings of this study indicate that consumer familiarity contributes to the formation of media trust. It adds credibility to the media information and consumers can be more motivated to exercise their purchase activism as the edible insect food movement is closely related to social causes like sustainability. Activist motivation, then, changes consumers' behavioral outcomes such as purchase intention and expected liking of edible insect food products.     

CONSUMER PERCEPTION OF WHEY AND SOY PROTEIN IN MEAL REPLACEMENT PRODUCTS

ABSTRACT

Meal replacement products including protein bars, shakes and powdered drinks have increased in demand and sales. The objective of this study was to assess the consumer perception of protein content and type and product claims for meal replacement beverages and bars. The impact of exercise frequency on product perception was also investigated. Focus groups were conducted with exercisers and nonexercisers. An adaptive conjoint analysis survey was subsequently developed and conducted (n = 138 consumers, ages 18–35 years). Relative importance of product attributes was determined through a realistic trade‐off scenario. Utility scores were extracted and rescaled by the zero‐centered differences method, and two‐way analysis of variance was conducted to identify the differences between exercise frequency and product attributes. Both groups preferred bars to beverages, and no clear preferences were observed for protein type, which was consistent with focus group results of low knowledge/understanding of specific proteins. All respondents valued the products with low‐fat/fat‐free, calcium, all‐natural, protein, vitamin/mineral, heart health and muscle‐building claims. Exercisers viewed muscle‐building claims as more important than nonexercisers. Nonexercisers viewed heart health, calcium and vitamin/mineral claims as more important than exercisers. Three distinct consumer clusters were identified, and both exercise groups were found in all three clusters, although exercise frequency influenced membership in two of the three clusters (P < 0.05). These findings can be used to develop and market meal replacement products to specific consumer groups while leveraging their specific and unique needs.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Conjoint analysis provides a useful model of how consumers think during the purchase process and an understanding of the motivation for purchase through the testing of possible claims or product attributes. By applying this method to the purchase process of meal replacement bars and beverages, those in the field of development of these products can benefit from this information by being able to understand the motivation for purchase by the targeted consumer.     

When consumer behavior dictates life cycle performance beyond the use phase: case study of inkjet cartridge end-of-life management

Purpose

Conventional wisdom suggests that product reuse can provide environmental savings. The purpose of this study is to first compare the environmental impacts of retail refilling and remanufactured inkjet cartridge alternatives to production of new inkjet cartridges, and then determine the extent to which consumer behavior can influence life cycle outcomes.

Methods

A life cycle inventory was developed for an inkjet cartridge with an integral print head using material composition data collected from cartridge disassembly and material processing, product manufacturing, and transportation inputs estimated from market data and the ecoinvent database in SimaPro 7.3. Although previous comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) studies for printer cartridges typically use “pages printed” or a variation thereof for the functional unit, “cartridge use cycles” is more suitable for examining reused inkjet cartridge alternatives that depend on the inkjet cartridge end-of-life (EOL) route chosen by the consumer. Since multiple reuse cycles achieved from refilling by a retailer was of specific interest, a functional unit defined in the form of “five use cycles” included the mode and manner in which consumers purchased inkjet cartridge use cycles.

Results and discussion

Cartridge refills present the lowest environmental impact, offering a 76 % savings in global warming potential (GWP) impact compared to production and purchase of a new inkjet cartridge alternative, followed by the remanufacturing case, which provided a 36 % savings in GWP impact compared to the new inkjet cartridge. However, results varied widely, even switching to favor new cartridge purchase, depending on how consumer transport was modeled, specifically the mode of travel, travel patterns (number of trips), and method of allocating impact to each trip.

Conclusions

Refilling an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridge four consecutive times provides the best alternative for reducing environmental impact for those consumers that purchase inkjet cartridges one at a time. On the other hand, consumers that purchase multiple cartridges in a single trip to a retailer reduce environmental impact more by transport minimization than by refilling. Results reinforce the need for more comprehensive inclusion of consumer behavior when modeling life cycle environmental impact of product alternatives.     

Sustainability governance service providers: the role of third-party product certification in facilitating corporate life cycle management

Purpose

This article aims to analyze the role that third-party product sustainability certifications play in supply chain sustainability governance and hence the impact that they may have on facilitating corporate life cycle management (LCM). Particular emphasis is given to exploring the extent to which such schemes allow firms to outsource the work of communication, motivation, enablement, and control of sustainability-related information and performance upstream in the supply chain.

Methods

The research design is based on a comparative case study methodology. The corporate practices of sourcing the sustainability certified products in the food retailing and textile sectors are compared, to explain when third-party product sustainability certification reduces the corporate need to engage in collaborative relationships with suppliers, thereby reducing efforts associated with implementation of corporate life cycle management.

Results and discussion

In our study, we found evidence that affirms the role of third-party product sustainability certification in reducing corporate necessity to actively engage with coordination of sustainability issues upstream in the supply chain. However, we also identified a range of factors—the intention of the buying company, the supply chain context, and the design of the certification scheme—that influence the extent, to which third-party product sustainability certification replaces the corporate need for additional work to facilitate supplier compliance. Some of these factors, e.g., the design of the certification scheme, are new and have been underexplored in the supply chain management and value chain governance literature yet.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that corporate LCM practitioners should consider third-party sustainability certification as an instrument for the transfer of significant life cycle information along the supply chain and as a tool to facilitate corporate life cycle management. The extent to which third-party product sustainability certification would be able to facilitate corporate life cycle management depends not only on whether certification requirements are based on the LCA studies but also on the market scope of the certification schemes, the scope of the certification requirements, and the architecture of the certification management services. If these parameters are aligned with corporate ambitions and allow buyers to fully outsource the work associated with communication, motivation, enablement, and control of sustainability-related information and supplier performance, the life cycle management can be exercised by companies by simply choosing to procure sustainability certified products.

     

Air pollution and green consumption of consumers in China’s urban areas: a norm activation perspective

Abstract

This study aims to explore how consumers’ psychological factors affect their pro-environment purchasing behavior in a smog-ridden city. Based on the Protective Action Decision Model and Heuristic–Systematic Model, this study proposed a model to investigate consumers’ decision-making process in purchasing green anti-smog products. It also provided new empirical evidence for the role of personal norms on consumers’ green consumption behavior by examining the differences between two groups of consumers (i.e., green and non-green) through a multi-group path analysis. The predictions were tested using a questionnaire survey of 1,124 participants living in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region of China. Results indicated that product knowledge, smog knowledge, risk perception, and systematic processing positively affected consumers’ purchase intention. In addition, the significant differences of consumers with various personal norms in purchase decision-making were found in the current study. In the green group, product knowledge positively affected consumers’ risk perceptions and systematic processing intentions. Information seeking increased their purchase intentions. However, these relationships were not significant in the non-green group. This study contributes to the existing literature by linking consumers’ protective behaviors with green consumption and providing a comprehensive model for predicting consumers’ purchase decisions.     

Risk knowledge,product knowledge,and brand benefits for purchase intentions: Experiences with air purifiers against city smog in China

The present study is based on the theoretical framework of protective action decision model. This study aims to explain the relationship among the risk knowledge, product knowledge, risk perception, and brand benefits and the consumers’ purchase intentions of a specific air purifier compared with alternative brands. The research context is city smog. Results show that consumers’ risk knowledge and product knowledge significantly affect their purchase of an air purifier brand as well as play a considerable role in predicting their risk perception and in foreseeing their purchase intentions under the influence of the manufacturer's advertising strategies. Furthermore, consumers’ risk perception is a critical psychological factor that has a significantly positive influence on brand's experiential benefits, instead of functional and symbolic benefits. In particular, when comparing with brand's functional and symbolic benefits, the brand's experiential benefits is more attractive to consumers and has a stronger effect on consumers’ air purifier purchase intentions in the context of city smog.     

SEGMENTATION APPROACHES THAT DIFFERENTIATE CONSUMPTION FREQUENCY FROM SENSORY PREFERENCE1

People can eat a food without having a strong preference for it, and people can prefer a food without eating it. Given this seeming disconnect between attitude and behavior, which type of measure or segment can best be used to profile or identify loyal consumer segments of a food, such as soy? This research compares a usage‐based method (heavy‐light‐nonusers) with a new attitude‐based method (seeker‐neutral‐avoider), and finds that the attitude‐based method differentiates purchase‐related intentions better than the usage‐based method. Implications for profiling consumer taste patterns and consumer segments are provided.     

Functional unit and product functionality—addressing increase in consumption and demand for functionality in sustainability assessment with LCA

Purpose

The static functional unit definition in the current LCA framework has limitations in addressing the changing product functionality and associated environmental impact of constantly evolving product technologies. As a result, it overlooks the changes in consumer behaviour of increased consumption of products in provided services as well as in growing volumes. This article aims to present a new framework in defining a dynamic functional unit of product technologies that caters for changes in consumer behaviour and growing market.

Methods

A new approach to defining the functional unit is proposed that caters for changes in consumer behaviour and the use of technology from a technical performance perspective. A dynamic approach to definition of the functional unit is proposed that is based on Kano’s model of product function and satisfaction.

Results and discussion

The new approach is demonstrated on a case study in which the analysis of historical data for two TV product technologies—CRT and LCD—is used to show how the total environmental impact is increasing due to the increased functionality which triggers an increase in the volume of the market. Despite the efforts of improving product life cycle design, the society is still faced with increasing environmental impact from the product type overall.

Conclusions

This article presents the challenges of using a static, single functional unit definition in an industrial culture with constant evolution of products that influences usage behaviour and demonstrates the vicious circle of improving product efficiency that leads to further consumption and environmental impact. To address this problem, a new framework of dynamic functional unit definition is put forward for performing comparative LCA to manage the development of product life cycle design that helps keep the total environmental impact of the company’s product portfolio within absolute boundaries.

     

Reflecting the importance of human needs fulfilment in absolute sustainability assessments: Development of a sharing principle

Absolute environmental sustainability assessments (AESAs) evaluate whether the environmental impact of a product system is within its share of a safe operating space as determined by biophysical sustainability limits such as the planetary boundaries (PBs). The choice of sharing principle has significant influence on the result of an AESA, and any studies call for further research on how to share the safe operating space in an operational way that relates to the product's contribution to the welfare of the user. In this study, we develop the “Fulfilment of Human Needs” (FHN) principle as a sharing principle that operationalizes sufficientarianism (making sure everyone gets enough). The FHN principle is tested on two case studies (a food item and a textile) against four of the PBs: climate change, land-system change, water use, and nitrogen cycling. The operationalization of the FHN principle is slightly different between the PBs; the starting point for climate change is the average consumption pattern in countries classified as “most sustainable,” while for the other three PBs the status quo impact in the most sustainable countries is used. To operationalize the FHN principle on the product level, each consumption category is downscaled according to objective sources that determine the value delivered to the users. We demonstrate that, compared to other previously applied sharing principles, the FHN principle supports a stronger relation to the importance to the users of the delivered outcome.     

Development of a Consumer Environmental Index and Results for Washington State Consumers

Consumer choices affect sustainability of societal systems, and state governments increasingly are interested in environmental impacts of consumption. This article describes a Consumer Environmental Index (CEI) to track the impacts of product purchase, use, and disposal and applies this initial CEI to Washington State in the United States. CEI has modules for product and service use, upstream resource extraction and manufacturing, and downstream disposal. CEI uses hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) methods, combined with purchasing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Survey. For Washington State, when human health and ecosystem toxicity impact was assessed with the TRACI/CalTOX methods, weighted aggregate and per consumer impacts in all categories increased during the 6 years from 2000 to 2005. For impacts per real dollar spent, only the CEI's climate change component declined, falling nearly 7% between 2000 and 2005. Purchasing details in the BLS expenditure surveys enable the CEI to track environmental impact details on 700 individual categories of products and services. For example, sugar, motor oil, and wood heat appear to have serious environmental impacts, whereas recycling of paper, cardboard, and food and beverage container discards can be as effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions as cutting vehicle fuel usage nearly in half. Such results may serve to increase understanding of environmentally effective actions to reduce climate, human health, and ecosystem impacts of consumption.     

An application of the risk perception attitude framework in food safety behavior

An important part of consumers' ability to choose and consume safe food is their level of trust in the information and labeling provided by governments or companies. This study classifies consumers into four groups with similar characteristics regarding food safety issues, using data from the 2016 “Research on Food Consumption Behavior” compiled by the Korea Rural Economic Institute. Using risk perception and efficacy beliefs for food safety, four consumer-type groups were identified: indifference, proactive, avoidance, and responsive. Consumers were classified by applying the risk perception attitude framework, and then the factors that influence the consumer-type classifications were examined. The indifference group accounted for 33.9% of all consumers, the highest percentage, and factors that influenced the classification of consumer types were gender, education level, monthly household income, interest in health, and involvement with food safety. The differences in food safety behaviors proxied by intention to pay higher prices for safe food and checking food labels were identified by consumer type, and these differences were statistically significant.     

Rebound effects of price differences

Goal, Scope and Background  Traditionally, comparative life cycle assessments (LCA) have not considered rebound effects, for instance in case of significant price differences among the compared products. No justifications have been made for this delimitation in scope. This article shows that price differences and the consequent effects of marginal consumer expenditure may influence the conclusions of comparative LCA significantly. We also show that considerations about rebound effects of price differences can be included in LCAs. Methods  The direct rebound effect of a price difference is marginal consumption. Based on statistical data on private consumption in different income groups (Statistics Denmark 2005a, 2005b), the present article provides an estimate of how an average Danish household will spend an additional 1 DKK for further consumer goods, when the household has gained money from choosing a cheaper product alternative. The approach is to use marginal income changes and the following changes in consumption patterns as an expression for marginal consumption. Secondly, the environmental impact potentials related to this marginal consumption are estimated by the use of environmental impact intensity data from an IO-LCA database (Weidema et al. 2005). Finally, it is discussed whether, and in which ways the conclusions of comparative LCAs can be affected by including the price difference between product alternatives. This is elucidated in a case study of a comparative LCA screening of two different kinds of Danish cheese products (Fricke et al. 2004). Results  Car purchase and driving, use and maintenance of dwelling, clothing purchase and insurance constitutes the largest percentages of the marginal consumption. In a case study of two cheeses, the including the impact potentials related to the price difference results in significant changes in the total impact potentials. Considering the relatively small price difference of the two products, it is likely also to have a significant influence on the results of comparative LCAs more generally. Discussion  The influence of marginal consumption in comparative LCAs is relevant to consider in situations with large differences in the price of the product alternatives being compared, and in situations with minor differences in the impact potentials related to the alternatives. However, different uncertainties are linked to determining the pattern for marginal consumption and the environmental impact potential related to this. These are first of all related to the method used, but also include inaccurate data of consumption in households, aggregation and weighting of income groups, aggregation of product groups, estimation and size of the price difference, and the general applicability of the results. Conclusion  Incorporating marginal consumption in consequential LCAs is possible in practice. In the case study used, including the rebound effects of the price difference has a significant influence on the result of the comparative LCA, as the result for the impact categories acidification and nutrient enrichment changes in favour of the expensive product. Recommendations and Perspectives  It is recommended that the rebound effects of price differences should be included more frequently in LCAs. In order to ensure this, further research in marginal consumption and investment patterns and IO data for different countries or regions is required. Furthermore, this study does not consider the economic distributional consequences of buying an expensive product instead of a cheaper product (e.g. related to how the profit is spent by those who provided the product). It should also be noted, that more expensive products not necessarily result in less consumption, as those who provided the product also will spend the money they have earned from the sale. Ideally, these consequences should also be further investigated. Likewise, the development of databases to include marginal consumption in PC-tools is needed. In general, considerations of marginal consumption would favour expensive product alternatives, depending, however, on the type of consumer. ESS-Submission Editor: Dr. David Hunkeler (david.hunkeler@aquaplustech.ch)     

Assessing the Replacement of Electrical Home Appliances for the Environment

To evaluate whether replacing an existing product with a new, more energy‐efficient product is environmentally preferable, we used an assessment approach based on life cycle assessment. With this approach, consumers can assess various replacement products, including products of different sizes or environmental performance in addition to consideration of various conditions of product use. The approach utilizes a diagram in which replacement conditions of products are compared with iso‐environmental‐load lines to determine the appropriateness of replacement. The approach also allows the assessment of energy and resource consumption and environmental impacts not only during the use stage, but also at other product stages. Iso‐environmental‐load lines to assess delayed replacement were also examined and derived. We then applied the approach in a case study of energy consumption by replacing three types of electric home appliances in Japan: TVs, air conditioners, and refrigerators. The results of assessment showed that replacing refrigerators after 8–10 years of use was preferable even if the replacement product was larger. The appropriateness of replacing TVs and air conditioners based on energy consumption depended on the replacement product and on the duration of daily use, and in several cases, delayed replacement was preferable. Replacement of air conditioners after 8–10 years of use was not preferable if the consumer already owned the most energy‐efficient product at the time of the purchase. The necessity of accounting for a variety of available replacement products was confirmed.     

SIDER: an R package for predicting trophic discrimination factors of consumers based on their ecology and phylogenetic relatedness

Stable isotope mixing models (SIMMs) are an important tool used to study species' trophic ecology. These models are dependent on, and sensitive to, the choice of trophic discrimination factors (TDF) representing the offset in stable isotope delta values between a consumer and their food source when they are at equilibrium. Ideally, controlled feeding trials should be conducted to determine the appropriate TDF for each consumer, tissue type, food source, and isotope combination used in a study. In reality however, this is often not feasible nor practical. In the absence of species‐specific information, many researchers either default to an average TDF value for the major taxonomic group of their consumer, or they choose the nearest phylogenetic neighbour for which a TDF is available. Here, we present the SIDER package for R, which uses a phylogenetic regression model based on a compiled dataset to impute (estimate) a TDF of a consumer. We apply information on the tissue type and feeding ecology of the consumer, all of which are known to affect TDFs, using Bayesian inference. Presently, our approach can estimate TDFs for two commonly used isotopes (nitrogen and carbon), for species of mammals and birds with or without previous TDF information. The estimated posterior probability provides both a mean and variance, reflecting the uncertainty of the estimate, and can be subsequently used in the current suite of SIMM software. SIDER allows users to place a greater degree of confidence on their choice of TDF and its associated uncertainty, thereby leading to more robust predictions about trophic relationships in cases where study‐specific data from feeding trials is unavailable. The underlying database can be updated readily to incorporate more stable isotope tracers, replicates and taxonomic groups to further increase the confidence in dietary estimates from stable isotope mixing models, as this information becomes available.     

Company disclosure and consumer perceptions of the privacy implications of direct-to-consumer genetic testing

This study examines the way direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTCGT) companies communicate privacy information and how consumers understand privacy implications of DTCGT. We first conducted an analysis of DTCGT websites to determine what information they provide regarding the treatment of consumer information and samples. 86 companies offered DTCGT services that could be purchased online from Canada. We then surveyed 415 consumers (180 had purchased, 235 considered but did not purchase DTCGT). While most websites had some privacy information, few provided sufficient information for consumers to make informed purchase decisions. Nearly half of participants reported reading the company’s privacy policy and many felt they received enough information about privacy implications, but their expectations were generally not consistent with company practices. The most common expectation was that the company would share results only with them and destroy their sample after testing. We discuss these issues regarding privacy expectations in the context of DTCGT.     

What Are They Up To? The Role of Sensory Evidence and Prior Knowledge in Action Understanding

Explaining or predicting the behaviour of our conspecifics requires the ability to infer the intentions that motivate it. Such inferences are assumed to rely on two types of information: (1) the sensory information conveyed by movement kinematics and (2) the observer's prior expectations--acquired from past experience or derived from prior knowledge. However, the respective contribution of these two sources of information is still controversial. This controversy stems in part from the fact that "intention" is an umbrella term that may embrace various sub-types each being assigned different scopes and targets. We hypothesized that variations in the scope and target of intentions may account for variations in the contribution of visual kinematics and prior knowledge to the intention inference process. To test this hypothesis, we conducted four behavioural experiments in which participants were instructed to identify different types of intention: basic intentions (i.e. simple goal of a motor act), superordinate intentions (i.e. general goal of a sequence of motor acts), or social intentions (i.e. intentions accomplished in a context of reciprocal interaction). For each of the above-mentioned intentions, we varied (1) the amount of visual information available from the action scene and (2) participant's prior expectations concerning the intention that was more likely to be accomplished. First, we showed that intentional judgments depend on a consistent interaction between visual information and participant's prior expectations. Moreover, we demonstrated that this interaction varied according to the type of intention to be inferred, with participant's priors rather than perceptual evidence exerting a greater effect on the inference of social and superordinate intentions. The results are discussed by appealing to the specific properties of each type of intention considered and further interpreted in the light of a hierarchical model of action representation.     

Insect-based dog and cat food: A short investigative review on market,claims and consumer perception

The interest in use of insects for human food has also resulted in the appearance of insect-based dog and cat food products in the market. Insect-based pet food producers are using several health and sustainability claims for marketing purposes, which are expected to be the main drivers of market growth in the near future.In this paper, we systematically synthesize information about the insect-based pet food market, investigating the type of products commercially available, providing a geographical overview and type of insect species being commonly used in these products. We then try to synthesize information about health and sustainability claims currently being used by insect-based pet food companies in different geographies. Finally, we review information about consumer perception of: (1). these products in general; and (2). claims being used to market these products.The insect-based pet food market is growing rapidly in Europe. Recent regulatory approval in the USA will push this growth in the North American market too. It appears that consumers have connected very well with sustainability, hypoallergenicity and the overall gut health claims. Finally, insect-based pet food producers should: (1). adopt systematic marketing; (2). produce more scientific evidence; and (3). actively communicate and partner with veterinarians to improve the consumer perception of claims used on insect-based pet foods.     

The Effect of Life Cycle Cost Information on Consumer Investment Decisions Regarding Eco-Innovation

Life cycle cost (LCC) computations are a well-established instrument for the evaluation of intertemporal choices in organizations, but they have not been widely adopted by private consumers yet. Consumer investment decisions for products and services with higher initial costs and lower operating costs are potentially subject to numerous cognitive biases, such as present-biased preferences or framing effects. This article suggests a classification for categorizing different cost profiles for eco-innovation and a conceptual model for the influence of LCC information on consumer decisions regarding eco-innovation. It derives hypotheses on the decision-making process for eco-innovation from a theoretical perspective. To verify the hypotheses, the publication reviews empirical studies evaluating the effects of LCC information on consumer investment decisions. It can be concluded that rather than finding ways to make customers pay more for environmentally sound products, the marketing challenge for eco-innovation should be reconceptualized as one of lowering customers' perceived initial cost and increasing awareness of LCC. Most existing studies report a positive effect of LCC information on the purchase likelihood of eco-innovations. Disclosing LCC information provides an important base for long-term thinking on the individual, corporate, and policy levels.     

The Design of a Sustainability Assessment Standard Using Life Cycle Information

Sustainability assessment standards are currently being developed for a range of building products. This activity has been stimulated through the considerable success of the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED? standard. Transparent life cycle–based standards can guide manufacturers to design products that have reduced environmental impact. The use of a sustainability standard can certify performance and avoid green washing. In this article we present a logical framework for designing a sustainability assessment standard through the creation of tables that award points in the standard to be consistent with life cycle information. Certain minimum principles of consistency are articulated. In the case that the life cycle impact assessment method maps the life cycle inventory to impact through a linear weighting, two design approaches—impact category and activity substitution—are constructed to be consistent with these principles. The approach is illustrated in a case study of a partial redesign of a carpet sustainability assessment standard (NSF/ANSI‐140).     

Modelling and quantification of Eco-functional Index: The concept and applications of eco-functional assessment

This research work deals with the development of a novel framework to assess any product/textile material in terms of its eco-functional characteristics and to derive the Eco-functional Index from various sub-indices. Functional and ecological properties combined with consumer behaviour are the key aspects influencing the implications for the environment of any product, including textile products. Functional, ecological properties and consumer behaviour are currently treated as individual issues by consumers, business people and also industry. In fact, they are interrelated and interactive; their interaction is at the heart of this research. To date, no systematic study has been reported in the literature addressing the interrelation and interaction of these aspects. This study makes an attempt to combine these aspects in a single platform termed “Eco-functional Assessment”. This research work discusses the concept of eco-functional assessment and demonstrates the applications of the concept by considering shopping bags used for grocery purposes as an example. The primary aim of this research study is to fill the knowledge gaps by establishing a theoretical framework of eco-functional assessment, which has not been reported in the literature to date. An eco-functional model was developed with four inputs (raw materials, process of manufacture, functional properties and ecological properties) and five outputs (quality, functionality, 3Rs, human impact, environmental impact) to quantify the Eco-functional Index of any product/textile material. These inputs and outputs and their interrelation can provide a profile of the essential characteristics for the eco-functional assessment of any textile product. With the aid of the eco-functional model where the values from the discussed aspects are synthesized, eco-functional capacities of any product can be assessed and an “Eco-functional” Index can be assigned to any product. Eco-functional Index would be of primary importance to designers, manufacturers and so on. 23 samples made out of different types of shopping bags were assessed in terms of their eco-functional properties and the eco-functional score of each bag was evaluated and the results are presented. The results of the eco-functional assessment reveal the importance of every aspect of a product to meet the requirements of eco-functional assessment.