The Green Consumer

I. Green Marketing and Green Consumer

The market for naturally derived ingredients has seen significant growth in recent years and it is due to a near universal recognition that consumers, companies and governments needed to work together to combat climate change, pollution and other environmental challenges. Respecting and protecting the global environment is becoming a growing importance for many consumers. From 2008 to 2009, consumer demand for green products grew 15 percent and 70 percent of consumers now say they would purchase a green product over a comparably priced, non-green option (“The New Green Marketing | Marketing & Advertising Market Groups from AllBusiness.com.” Business Resources, Advice and Forms for Large and Small Businesses, Jan 2010). In fact, climate change is characterized by extreme scale and urgency. On the supply side every company needs to drastically reduce its impacts in manufacturing, distribution, raw materials, energy use and so on. If they do not, they will be left behind by regulation and hardening customer demands (J. Grant, Green manifesto, 2008). This green concern has infiltrated almost all aspect of our lives. Concern over the origin of products have followed a series of scares, such as mad-cow disease or the avian flu, which appears to have given rise to a general feeling among consumers that natural and traceable products are safer. The strong growth of 20/30 % sales rates of organic food and drink products has had an overall positive effect on the natural ingredients industry. To be more specific, we can say that a green brand is one that offers a significant eco-advantage over the incumbents and which hence appeals to those who are willing to making green a high priority. This increased attention to our environmental impact has also been largely driven by rising disposable incomes, enabling consumers to become more choosy and leading to a willingness to pay a premium price for a safer and more eco-friendly products and services.

Besides understanding the terminology of green marketing, and before considering pursuing a green marketing strategy, it is preferable to conduct some research of green consumers to better understand how best to reach them and how to develop a strategy that will hold the most appeal. However, it is difficult for marketers to profile green consumers via demographic variables because being green often reflects a particular way of life rather than a specific consumer (“The green (and variegated) consumer” march 2008, Euromonitor International). Nevertheless, a range of studies have shown that the most responsive group tends to be young adults, many of whom are influenced by their children. In addition, women are a key target for greener products, as they are generally responsible for the best part of the household shopping ( International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2012). Another key target is the “Baby Boomer” generation (born between 1946 and 1961), who often can afford premium-priced products and have time at their disposal to locate them but also share the ideas and values of 1968 (J.Ottman, We are all Green Consumers, Feb 2011). Green consumers also tend to have above average incomes and have the education and intellectual orientation necessary to appreciate value and understand environmental claims and impact. Another reason why it is difficult to profile the green consumer is that there are varying degrees of green consumers in all demographics. These degrees are often referred to as “shades of green”. In fact, most consumers in industrialized markets now consider themselves to be at least partially green but generally do not want to change too

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