According to a report by
Grail Research, “green campaigns” may not be paying for themselves. While consumers are very interested in
the ”green movement,” it doesn’t always pay off at the cash register.
While 85% of shoppers
have bought a green product, only 8% said it made up a majority of their
purchasing mix.
Also, green purchases
vary widely by category. For
example:
The research also shows
that while a lot of companies have aggressive “green programs” the awareness of
such is not always well attached to the brand. For example, few people were aware that Esté Lauder, HP,
Unilever, Intel, Cisco and Rubbermaid all had active green programs.
It may appear that many
companies are not doing a good job of communicating their commitment to the
environment. But there also may
be other things at work that are affecting these perceptions, like price. In the green field people often say one
thing and do another, particularly when they don’t want to pay a higher
price. Or maybe, green is okay when
cleaning your kitchen floor, but not when buying a black dress that fits and
makes you look thin.
On the other hand, I
believe that “green” is now considered so normal that it has become a parity
attribute in the purchase decision matrix. And if so, it’s no longer the great brand differentiator it
once was.
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