A Report on Consumer Behavior towards Green products

1. Attitude of Consumers towards
Green Products and its translation
into buying behavior
By: Anupriya Verma
10PG(J)06
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2. Flow of the presentation…
• Introduction
• Research Methodology
• Results and Discussions
• Recommendations
• Conclusions
• Q&A
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3. Introduction about the study -
 Inspired from Consumer Behaviour
 How consumers behave towards a special
category of products – “eco-friendly” or “green”
products
 The translation of this feeling into buying
behavior; whether positive, negative or neutral
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4. Research Motivation -
• Going “green” has become mandatory
• Organizations are investing a lot
• Are these initiatives being noted by
consumers or not?
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5. What are green products?
• Do not harm the environment, whether in their
production, use or disposal
• Help conserve energy, minimize carbon
footprint or the emission of greenhouse gases
• Does not lead to substantial toxicity or pollution
to the environment
• Its manufacturing, purchase and use allows for
economic development while still
conserving, for future generations
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6. Characteristics of Green products
• Energy efficient and saving, durable, and have low maintenance
requirements
• Incorporate recycled content (post-consumer and/or post-industrial); or have
been salvaged from existing or demolished products or buildings for reuse
• Employ "Sustainable Harvesting" or "Sustainable Management" practices
• Do not contain highly toxic compounds, and their production does not
result in highly toxic by-products
• Can be easily reused (either whole or through disassembly)
• Can be readily recycled (preferably in a closed-loop recycling system)
• Biodegradable
• Made using natural and/or renewable resources
• Do not contain ozone depleting substances
• Obtained from local resources and manufacturers
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7. Most popular category of green
products –
• Consumer Durables: Refrigerators, Washing
machines, Television, Mixer grinders etc.
• Cosmetics & Apparels: Shampoos, Soaps, Make-
up, Bags, Footwear, Belts, Clothes, etc.
• Technology products: Laptops, PCs, Mobile phones, Music systems
etc.
• Stationery products:
Books, Notebooks, Pencils, Pens, Ink, Erasers, etc.
• House Decor: Lamps, Curtains, Paints, Furniture, Cups, Towels, etc.
• Electronic Items: Fans, Lights, Fittings, etc.
• Food products: Vegetables, Ice-creams,
• Others: Bottles, Decorative items, Hand bags, Suitcases, etc.
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8. Green products and Consumers
• People are becoming aware of their roles and
responsibilities towards protecting the
environment
• They are becoming knowledgeable about being
associated with green companies
• Words like “Consumer Activism” &
“Greenwashing” are becoming popular amongst
people
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9. Green products and Consumer
Behavior
• Since people are becoming more aware and
conscious about what they use -
• Different companies are working towards
changing the trends in the lifestyle of consumers
- decision making, and
• playing an active role in changing their
consciousness about the
environment, thus, making them act more
responsibly
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10. Contd.
• Consumed only by those consumers who feel
responsible about the environment and feel that
it is their duty to take care of it
• May be well aware of eco-friendly products and
the advantages of using them but they will never
purchase them
• Their behaviour can be modified through
suitable means to support environmental
growth
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11. Factors which have a bearing on the
behaviour of consumers
• The financial costs and benefits of making “greener” choices
• Access to high-quality, reliable information about the environmental
characteristics of products, which helps consumers express their
demand for environmental quality in the marketplace
• How much consumers know about environmental issues, the
environmental impact of their consumption and lifestyle
decisions, and the practical actions that they can take to support
sustainability goals
• The level of commitment to supporting green objectives
• What impact behavioural biases have on the decisions and actions
taken by consumers and households
Hence, the problem statement can be defined as… 10

12. Problem Statement
To see if there is a difference between how
consumers feel about green products and
their purchase behaviour towards the
same
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13. Objectives
• To see the awareness level of eco-friendly products
amongst consumers
• To see the impact (favourable or unfavourable feeling)
of these on consumers
• To see the translation of this feeling into buying
behaviour
• To identify the reason for the gap between the feeling
and the actual buying behaviour, if any
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14. Limitations of this study
• It considers only tier-II and tier-III towns in its sample set
• It covers respondents only above or equal to 21 years of age
• It does not segment the respondents based on their
occupation
• It does not consider their educational qualification or their
marital status
• It does not take into account if the respondent was from a tier-
I town in past and since how long has he been staying in the
towns under consideration set
• It does not account for any final solution to the problem
identified because this study is concerned only with identifyng
the problem. The solution may be studied in further research
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15. Research Methodology
Research design
• This study is exploratory in nature i.e. it will
tend to find out if their is a discrepancy
between how people perceive green products
and do they act accordingly while buying it
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16. Contd.
Data Collection and Research tools used
• Collection of quantitative and qualtitative
data along with secondary data
• Primary data - questionnaire which contained
both open-ended and close-ended questions
Sampling Techniques
• Covenience sampling and snowball sampling
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17. Contd.
Analytical tools
• Analysis was done using SPSS 14.0 version and
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 edition
• Simple statistical analytical tools like cross-
tabbing were used since the objective was to
see how does affect of one factor alter
another
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18. Data Analysis
LIKING CROSS-TABS
Liking vs. Category • Everybody knew about consumer
durables being sold green
• Consumers are most fond of
energy saving products due to
their unique positioning like CFL
62.5% bulbs, LEDs, etc.
78.6% 74.1% 72.6% • Next important segment widely
82.1%
used and greatly liked by
100.0% consumers is the cosmetics &
apparels segment which talks of
clothes, footwear, make-up
products, lip balms, powder etc.
37.5% 18.5% 19.4% made in eco-friendly way
16.7% 12.5% • The category which consumers
4.8% 7.4% 5.4% 8.1% rank third and fourth are food and
0.0% 0.0%
others (bags, bottles, etc.)
Technology Consumer Cosmetics and Food Energy Others
• Technology products are found to
Durables apparel
be least popular among the green
No Not sure Yes category which is liked
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19. Contd.
Liking vs. Willing to pay more
• Majority of the people who like eco-
friendly products are alright with their
higher price and will buy the product
for a premium.
54.5% • 75% of the respondents are not sure
75.0% whether they would ever pay any
83.8% premium for green products or not.
This is because they must have failed
to noticce any benefits of these over
18.2% non-green products or due to
greenwashing
• More than half of them were sure
8.1% 27.3% 21.9% that they will not create a dent in
8.1% 3.1%
their pocket by paying higher price
which can be procured at a much
Yes No Maybe lower cost which might indicate that
companies are not communicating
No Not sure Yes
their products well
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20. Contd.
Liking vs. Increase in Loyalty
• Majority of the respondents who
liked green products were either
33.3% not sure about their loyalty towards
52.9% the company or very sure. This is
because they have tried different
green products from different
85.7% 88.1% companies, hence, may take time
33.3% 100.0% to choose their most-preferred
brand
• Nearly 88% of the respondents
35.3% agreed that loyalty towards a brand
increased if they liked green brands
33.3% • 85.7% of them had a strong loyalty
14.3%
4.8% towards the brand which is just a
11.8%
7.1% little less than those who merely
0.0% 0.0%
agree
Strongly Agree Agree Neither Agree nor Disagree Strongly Disagree
Disagree
No Not sure Yes
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21. Contd.
Liking vs. Pre-purchase thought
• Majority of the people who like green
brands agreed that they only sometimes
30.0% (78.9%) they put a thought before
purchase as to whether the product is
eco-frienly or not. This may be because it
78.9% is not necessary that they like it through
usage. They may be liking it due to
100.0% 40.0%
various other reasons like
postioning, advertisements, utility, benefi
ts etc.
• 40% of them stated that they clearly did
30.0% 14.0%
not like the idea of thinking about the
7.0% products they are buying. It can be due to
0.0%
lack of their awareness as a responsible
Yes No Sometimes citizen
No Not sure Yes
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22. Contd.
Liking vs. Chances of purchasing if green • The results reflect that a major chunk of
the consumers (83.3%) are extremely
sure that if they come across a green
22.2% 22.2% product they will buy it even though they
might have not planned for it
• 90.3% resounded the same results that its
very likely that they will purchase it
83.3% 78.8% • Only 22.2% were not incentivised to pick
44.4% 44.4% 90.3% up the products they like. This may be
because they need and additional
impetus like better price, btter
offer, better category etc. to buy such
products
33.3% 33.3% • 44.4% were slightly sure that they would
12.1%
pick up a green product even though they
16.7% 6.5%
9.1% are not sure whether they like them or
0.0% 3.2%
not
Extremely likely Moderately likely Not at all likely Slightly likely Very likely • Even though some did not like green
products echoed that they would buy one
No Not sure Yes
and the chances are moderately likely
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23. AWARENESS CROSS-TABS
Awareness vs. Pay Premium
• Nearly half of the respndents who
knew their current products were
36.4% 40.6% willing to pay a premium
48.6%
• Those who didn’t know also showed a
positive sign
• Very few people (13.5%) who were
36.4% aware were reluctant to give more
46.9% amount (greenswashing or disbelief)
37.8%
27.3%
12.5% 13.5%
No Maybe Yes
No Not always Yes
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24. Contd.
Awareness vs. Loyalty
0.0%
16.7% • 50% of people who knew what they use
strongly agreed that loyalty towards
45.2% 47.1% 50.0% green companies eventually increases.
This is because a period of time they
become familiar and comfortable in
using these products
66.7% 100.0% • 6.7% of those who did not know
23.5% disbelieved that awareness has anything
40.5% to do with loyalty towards the brand
50.0% • A surprising 47% were not sure that
even if they use green
29.4% products, whether they feel more loyal
16.7% 14.3% towards that brand or not. This may be
0.0% 0.0% due to lack of connect with the brand
Disagree Agree Neither agree nor Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree
disagree
No Not always Yes
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25. Contd.
Awareness vs. Pre-purchase
• 62% people were always sure that they
0.0%
think what they are buying before they
do so. These were people who liked and
47.4% were aware about the products they use
61.5% 60.0% • An alarming 47.4% of them who knew
what they consume, said that they only
sometimes thought what they were
buying and whether its eco-friendly or
not. This can be due to lack of these
40.4%
products going into the consideration
30.8% set
40.0%
• Majority of those who were not always
7.7% 12.3% sure of what they use did not know
either what they are buying. These
Yes No Sometimes
consumers are less informed and need
No Not always Yes to be made more aware and conscious
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26. Contd.
Awareness vs. Chance of buying if green
0.0%
11.1% • 66.7% of respondents who knew what
types of products they consume, also
35.5%
agreed that it is extremely likely that if
57.6% they come across a product which is
66.7% green they will buy it wthout hesitating
55.6%
• This was followed by slight decrease in
100.0% the probability by 10-15%
• Not surprisingly it was also seen that all
58.1% of them who had no idea what they
27.3% were using will never fall for a product
16.7% just because it is green because this lot
33.3% is totally unaware and ignorant
16.7% 15.2% • While those who knew their choices
6.5% only sometimes will still buy green
Extremely likely Moderately likely Slightly likely Very likely Not at all likely products. Their is a slight possibility for
this as reflected in the results
No Not always Yes
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27. Contd.
Awareness vs. Company investment
• Nearly half of the respondents who knew
40.0% 44.6% what their consumption basket is, also
knew about what efforts companies put
into it
• As expected, a very small set of people
26.7% did not know the intensity of investments
44.6% put into making it green as they did not
know what type of products they
33.3% consume themselves
10.8%
No Yes
No Not always Yes
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28. Key highlights from the qualitative
questions
• People like and use green products because they believe that environment is
their responsibility and it is they who have to keep it safe
• Others feel that future generations have to be provided for
• Some say that since we have got whatever we need from nature, it is also our
duty to give back what it needs for its survival
• Some feel that it is a practice that should be enforced by law amongst
common public in order to rescue the environment
• Others opine that it is easier said than done. People do not “walk the talk”
• People contribute in less than 1 green deed a day then how will they save the
earth
• Some respondents said that going green is all a hogwash and word-of-mouth
cannot do anything much about it
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29. Findings
• Most (82%) of the consumers were comfortable with categories like energy sources
and cosmetics & apparels when it came to popular green categories. But they had
very less idea about the green-ness in their technology products
• Many of them, although liked green products, need not necessarily put a thought
before purchasing if its green or not. May be they need more incentive to put it into
consideration set.
• Many consumers agreed that they will pick up a product impulsively if its eco-
friendly. On the face of it, it sounds good, but do they really walk the talk?
• As far as awareness about the brands they were using is concerned, many of them did
not know whether they are green or not
• But in spite of that they agreed that they are comfortable in changing the product and
are even ready to purchase it for a premium
• Seldom did these consumers know that loyalty tends to increase if the product
bought is green
• But yes they did agree that company puts in alot of money to go green
• They said that they hardly think before buying what they are buying
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30. Recommendations
Incentivise the consumer
Make it Mass
If it is available, it will be invisible
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31. Conclusion
• There is a lot of favourism in consumers’ minds with respect
to green products, green companies and green initiatives
• Without the efforts of people, a progress at a global or
national level can never be achieved
• People are being reluctant either because its high prices of
these products that are binding them or they are not that
aware of the green-ness of the product themselves, at most of
the times
• Hence, it is suggested that these issues are addressed soon
otherwise they may suffer hugely in terms of finance and
otherwise.
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32. References
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http://marketinggreen.wordpress.com/
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33. THANK YOU
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