About this Centre

Directed by Professor James Cronin and Dr Hayley Cocker, the Centre for Consumption Insights (CCI) builds on the research excellence and international, interdisciplinary networks of colleagues in the Department of Marketing. The CCI has expertise in all aspects of consumption studies, from consumer culture theory and the sociology of consumption, markets & marketing, through to experimental work in the domain of consumer psychology.

The CCI is heavily involved in scholarly activities on consumption-related issues linked to:

• health and consumer wellbeing; food cultures and diet;
• political economy;
• the socio-cultural shaping of consumer identities;
• celebrity branding and consumer-celebrity relationships;
• digital cultures, the internet, and online tribes;
• sustainability;
• waste and consumers’ disposal practices;
• the production and consumption of craft objects;
• consumer spirituality;
• consumer risk-taking behaviours;
• youth and consumption;
• consumer disadvantage; and
• health communications.

The CCI is home to a number of funded projects and grant activities. The Centre also collaborates with and carries out consultancy with a range of partners on diverse topics.

Whether you are a student, colleague, organisation, media group, or member of the public, the CCI is willing to connect with you on all topics and contexts related to consumers, consumption, and consumer culture. Please contact the CCI directors, Professor Cronin or Dr Cocker, for any questions or information on how to get involved.

Our mission

To produce cutting-edge theory and actionable insights on a wide range of societal concerns that relate to consumers, consumption, and consumer culture. We work with colleagues from other institutions, policymakers, and corporate partners to identify pressing problems that can form the basis of research projects, public debate, and applicable solutions.

Sustainable consumption research cluster

The Sustainable Consumption cluster of the CCI includes a critical mass of researchers investigating sustainable patterns of consumption and production. This specialist cluster centres on exploring and theorising greener forms of consumer behaviour, alternative ways of engaging with the market like sharing and renting in a circular economy, media representations of sustainability, and the empowerment and mobilisation of the public to achieve less resource-intensive ways of living and consuming. The cluster is actively involved in generating knowledge that can contribute to our theoretical understanding of consumption in the wider sustainability landscape as well as producing applicable insights. Working in collaboration with partners, organisations, government, other researchers and households, the goal of the Sustainable Consumption cluster of the CCI is to provide actionable guidance for policy, key supply chain stakeholders and consumers to drive towards cleaner, greener growth and more environmentally friendly lifestyles.

Plastic Packaging in People's Lives (PPiPL)

The Sustainable Consumption cluster contributes to the UKRI NERC funded PPiPL project led by Lancaster University in collaboration with 11 project partners.

The PPiPL project aims to fundamentally shift behaviours around food plastic packaging. Combining excellence in marketing, supply chains, waste management, chemistry and material science, PPiPL will deliver innovative solutions in the drive to eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic waste. Focusing on how plastic packaging is embedded in consumers’ day-to-day lives, the project will undertake a holistic examination of the packaging supply chain to close the attitude-behaviour gap in consumers’ approaches to plastic usage and wastage.

Vulnerable consumers research cluster

The Vulnerable Consumers cluster of the CCI focusses on how people who, as a result of personal situation, socio-demographic characteristics, or structural characteristics of the market environment, experience a higher risk of encountering negative outcomes in their exchange relationships with the market. The cluster considers the challenges faced by various segments of the consumer population when interacting with, integrating themselves into, and seeking to maximise their wellbeing through consumer culture. Working in collaboration with members of the public and partners, a key function of the Vulnerable Consumers cluster is to help society to better understand the multi-dimensional nature of consumer vulnerability and to provide guidance for policy and market actors in ensuring a more inclusive and supportive market environment.

The Marketplace and I: Commercial Experiences of Disability Explored through Ar

The Marketplace and I project is funded by The Marketing Trust and aims to promote social change for consumers living with disability. Throughout 2019, consumers living with disability created personal artworks, which individually represented their commercial experiences in marketplace settings. The project culminated in an exhibition, which included nine collections, representing a range of disabilities and a multitude of commercial experiences. The art exhibition launched on 3 -7 December 2019, coinciding with International Day of Persons with Disabilities and UK Disability History Month and attracted over 300 people from outside academia. The exhibition returned to Edinburgh in 2022.

Craft consumption research cluster

The Craft Consumption research cluster of the CCI is interested in the synergies between production, marketing and consumption of craft-related products. Craft is an important sector, globally worth $35bn in 2017, with the potential to grow to $50.9bnby 2024. In the UK craft contributes £3.4bn to the UK economy, employing almost 150,000 people. In 2013 UNESCO has noted the potential of craft and artisan skills to improve the economies of both developed and developing countries, finding craft and artisan production could highlight shared cultural heritage, encourage community cohesion, contribute to low-carbon economies, improve opportunities for marginalised groups and offer employment in a sector unlikely to be adversely affected by the 4th Industrial Revolution (robotisation, artificial intelligence, internet of things).

The CASCADE project

(Craft and Artisan Skills for Co-operative and Digital Enterprise and Innovation)
Project reference number: 2020-1-UK01-KA204-078959

The craft consumption cluster is funded by the EU and is working in collaboration with partners in the UK (The Good Things Collective), Ireland (Rural Hub), Italy (Associazione Submeet) Poland (the University of Lodz and Lodzki Centre of Teacher Training and Vocational Education) and Bulgaria (Druzhestvo Znanie)

The five objectives of our project cover:

1. digital learning for business growth (pricing, digital marketplaces, digital marketing, retail channels etc)
2. innovation and sustainable (closed loop) production
3. inter-generational learning
4. careers advice for young people interested in crafts
5. creating a new network to enable craft and artisan workers to link up with new markets and consumers for their products

Our innovative outputs and multiplier events include inter-generational workshops with exhibitions of co-created crafts and a comprehensive package of innovation learning, covering design, marketing, business model and supply innovation. We consider the urgency of the climate emergency and the importance of the craft and artisan sector in contributing to a low-carbon economy with a substantive output setting out routes for low-emission, zero-waste production to enable the craft and artisan sector to innovate in this area, and to make use of their sustainability credentials in marketing their products.