Sustainability signals: The role of heuristics in consumer preferences for peat alternatives

To foster principles of a circular bioeconomy, consumers must adopt more sustainable substitutes. However, for low involvement products, consumers often rely on heuristics such as regional origin rather than detailed sustainability information. To explore how these heuristics affect consumer preferences, we implemented a split-sample design to assess the impact of product origin across multiple dimensions of sustainability. We examined gardeners' willingness to pay for peat alternatives and sustainability attributes of potting soil, a typical low-involvement product in the horticultural industry in Germany. We conducted an online discrete choice experiment with 1037 respondents. Our results show that origin information influences the willingness to pay for peat alternatives, with gardeners showing a clear preference for input materials sourced within Europe even when sustainability claims would signal a better choice. Additionally, gardeners preferred potting soils with an emissions reduction claim and a certification logo. Our study suggests that including origin information on regional product labels would increase their acceptance. Our findings also suggest strong market potential for digestate and biochar as peat alternatives, but successful adoption will require coordinated efforts from industry and policymakers to guide consumers, ensure credible certification, and counteract origin-based heuristics that disadvantage sustainable, yet globally sourced products.