Green consumers exaggerate their credentials
Although consumers say they are green, they are still confused about product labelling and often fail to act upon their stated principles. –when the reality can be somewhat different.
Of the 6,000 shoppers interviewed in Deloitte/GMA’s 2009 study ‘Finding the Green in Today’s Shopper’, 95% said they ‘would buy green’ but only 75% said they ‘know what a green product is’.
Furthermore, just 63% admitted they were ‘looking for green’ when shopping, and only 47% said they ‘saw green products’. Ultimately, just 22% of respondents said they ‘bought green’ in the surveyed shopping experience.
The study concluded that there is a large opportunity for companies to fulfil this latent demand for green products.
So, for example, while consumers might want to choose a product that has a low carbon footprint, they may not fully understand how to recognise it from the packaging and other marketing that they encounter.
The challenge for marketers of ‘green’ brands is to ensure that their products are clearly signposted and visible to shoppers. Euan Murray, general manager, carbon footprinting at The Carbon Trust, says it is understandable that people over–state their green intentions. ‘It is human nature to want to look as good as you can,’ he says.
‘The reality is that we have got to make it easier for people. That is about information and having the right systems in place.’ While consumers might ideally want to buy green products, this may be only one of many influences that they consider when shopping, including price, availability and perceived quality.
The Deloitte/GMA study found that: ‘A significant minority of committed and proactive green shoppers are willing to pay more for green products, however, the larger potential population of shoppers that lean towards green want price and performance parity for sustainable products because it is not their dominant purchase driver.’
Murray says that brands must explain concisely and clearly why a product’s green credentials make it worthy of purchase, as the demand is there for the companies that communicate it well.
‘There is a latent demand out there. People say they recognise climate change is a problem and they want to do the right thing. 70% tell us that they want more help from companies to do the right thing,’ he explains ‘Where that gap exists between rhetoric and reality is where companies aren’t clear about what they want people to do.’
