The annual Ethical Consumerism Report from the Co-op, which acts as a barometer of ethical spending in the UK, shows that in 2005 UK ethical consumerism was worth £29.3 billion. This represents growth of around 11% compared to the previous year and over twice as much as in 2001.

There is growing evidence that shoppers are prepared to change their behaviour. Mintel's research for Ethical and Green Retailing, September 2008 showed 71% make use of reusable bags when shopping and 65% have cut down on the number of plastic bags they take from shops. However, further research shows that convenience is a key factor in eliciting this change. According to Mintel’s January 2007 report Green and Ethical Consumers – UK, a fifth of all consumers claim to be “too busy to care” about environmental issues and nearly one-third favour convenience over greenness. Thus the success of ethical products is largely dependent on how easy they are to incorporate into everyday life. Whalebags have been specifically designed with the convenience factor in mind.

Mintel’s April 2007 Report Impact of the Environment (The) – UK confirm that, “Currently consumers appear to be happy to make green choices when there is little difficulty or compromise in doing so. Consumers have undoubtedly begun their journey to greener living with small simple steps. However, grocery retailers need to provide the information, opportunity and incentive for consumers to travel further and make greater, further-reaching changes.”

The finding that consumers want retailers to do more to make it easier for them to shop ethically and environmentally responsibly draws attention to retailers’ role in editing consumer choice on their behalf. Mintel’s June 2007 report Ethical and Green Retailing - UK stated that, “Consumers want to see retailers addressing the impact they have on the environment and will be taking a keen interest in ethical standards they are buying into when shopping at specific retailers. Even where interest appears to be low, consumers can be motivated by economics by emphasising that being green can save them money. This makes it essential that retailers have thought provoking in-store signage and Point of Sale (POS) communications. Strong POS communication will attract those that have already absorbed messages about the positive aspects of being greener and who will be seeking out the greener alternative as well as alerting those with no prior information or awareness to the merits of being greener.” It will be essential to have Whalebags at the POS with information about the need to reuse bags.

Mintel’s report Missing an opportunity in reusables, October 01, 2008 confirmed that, “Widespread take-up of re-usable shopping bags is also indicative of how consumers can respond to major campaigns.” Furthermore, “Looking ahead, initiatives focusing on reducing, reusing and recycling materials will be an increasingly important source of competitive advantage for retailers.”

The Stern Review on The Economics of Climate Change, published by the UK Government in October 2006, concluded that global action is required now if devastating consequences are to be avoided in the future. The publication of the report also raised the spectre that if consumers did not do this on their own initiative then taxes might be necessary to influence behaviour. Indeed in other parts of the world taxes have been enforced or government initiatives have lead to the banning of plastic bags.