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GREEN CONSUMERS ARE STILL THERE, BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO PRODUCTION?
Survey finds 88% of consumers still want environmentally friendly products—even at higher cost
Simi Valley, Ca. September 2009—Lori Ange has been driving around in her car to promote environmental sustainability. “Some of the things I use are at Target, others are at the supermarket, but a lot of the eco-friendly things I buy are at small shops. In a few cases, I have to go straight to the people that make them.” The irony is not lost on her that in order to promote green living, she has to leave a bigger carbon footprint than she would if she didn’t care about the environment at all.
Lori’s problem is a common one. Even among people that want to go the extra mile to promote a greener and more sustainable lifestyle, a comprehensive infrastructure doesn’t exist to support it. An informal survey conducted by online marketplace Go Green Etc. found that people still want to live green—even if it’s a bit more expensive than shopping for the lowest priced items. “We wanted to know if people were willing to spend more money on products that are better for both their personal environment and the global environment,” said Go Green Etc spokesperson Beth Bastian. “The most surprising thing we found was that even in the current economy, over 88% of respondents were still willing to pay more for a product that was environmentally friendly.”
It sounds like a promising source of revenue among some otherwise discouraging retail indicators, but there’s still a disconnect between green manufacturers and their target audience: location. While many manufacturers have put more organic and earth-friendly products beside their regular products on store shelves, many consumers are still having a difficult time finding a way to shop completely green without major changes to their normal lifestyle.
Although some blame it on lack of manufacturers of these products, the root of the problem seems to be distribution. To address it, Beth founded Go Green Etc. (www.gogreenetc.com), an online marketplace that puts small manufacturers of environmentally friendly products into direct touch with buyers who didn’t want to drive to dozens of green trade shows hoping to find green products that fit into their everyday lives. “We’ve found that the people who come to us are looking for a convenient one-stop-shop for green products,” says Beth. “They don’t want to drive all over to find what they need or pick through store shelves comparing products side-by-side. They’ve been coming to us because it’s easy.”
For the movement to maintain its own stability, though, the distribution channels will have to become more mainstream and convenient. But until then, Lori says she’ll just try and make her necessary trips more efficient. “I’ve been trying to make fewer car trips overall by planning my route to hit more places at once,” she says, “but it’s sort of a pain.” A pain, but with the very best of intentions.
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If you’d like more information or to schedule an interview, Beth Bastian can be reached by cell phone at (805) 416 2221 or by email at beth@gogreenetc.com
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I echo Lori’s problems and as a busy professional find it difficult to shop for products at too many different venues.
I love the fact that this movement towards green products is gaining momentum and that we have these types of websites to bring consumers and manufacturers together.
We’ve found that many consumers aren’t buying green products due to the lack of information at the point of sale where they are faced with technical jargon, unfamiliar certifications and ecolabeling. There may be a hyperlink to the manufacturer’s site or other site that better explains the product and its value, but at that point the sale has been lost. Consumers fall back to buy what’s familiar and give up on green products entirely.
Manufacturers if green products should consider organizing packaging their product, company and brand ‘back story’ using rich media (i.e., video), then ‘push’ the content to all distribution points (no more hyperlinks). This would engage consumers, increase consumer interaction, transfer knowledge (key aspect), increase sales and enhance brand loyalty. New technologies like SmartSymbols Interactive Technology have recently hit the market and solve this problem, give manufacturers control over the content, provided advanced analytics (find out what information customers are interested in), are reasonably priced and are implemented using one line of HTML code.