Attitude of Consumers towards Green Products and its translation into

buying behavior

By: Anupriya Verma10PG(J)06

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Flow of the presentation…

• Introduction• Research Methodology• Results and Discussions• Recommendations• Conclusions• Q & A

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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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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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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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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 5

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.6

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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• 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

Green products and Consumer Behavior

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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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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 householdsHence, the problem statement can be defined as…

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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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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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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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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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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 questionsSampling Techniques• Covenience sampling and snowball sampling

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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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Data Analysis

LIKING CROSS-TABS

Technology Consumer Durables

Cosmetics and apparel

Food Energy Others0.0% 0.0% 4.8% 7.4% 5.4% 8.1%

37.5%

0.0%

16.7%18.5%

12.5%19.4%

62.5%

100.0%

78.6% 74.1%82.1%

72.6%

Liking vs. Category

No Not sure Yes

• Everybody knew about consumer durables being sold green

• Consumers are most fond of energy saving products due to their unique positioning like CFL bulbs, LEDs, etc.

• Next important segment widely used and greatly liked by consumers is the cosmetics & apparels segment which talks of clothes, footwear, make-up products, lip balms, powder etc. made in eco-friendly way• The category which consumers

rank third and fourth are food and others (bags, bottles, etc.)• Technology products are found to

be least popular among the green category which is liked

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Yes No Maybe

8.1%

27.3%

3.1%

8.1%

18.2%

21.9%

83.8%

54.5%

75.0%

Liking vs. Willing to pay more

No Not sure Yes

• Majority of the people who like eco-friendly products are alright with their higher price and will buy the product for a premium.• 75% of the respondents are not sure

whether they would ever pay any premium for green products or not. This is because they must have failed to noticce any benefits of these over non-green products or due to greenwashing• More than half of them were sure

that they will not create a dent in their pocket by paying higher price which can be procured at a much lower cost which might indicate that companies are not communicating their products well

Contd.

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• Majority of the respondents who liked green products were either not sure about their loyalty towards the company or very sure. This is because they have tried different green products from different companies, hence, may take time to choose their most-preferred brand• Nearly 88% of the respondents

agreed that loyalty towards a brand increased if they liked green brands• 85.7% of them had a strong loyalty

towards the brand which is just a little less than those who merely agree

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Agree nor Disagree

Disagree Strongly Disagree0.0%

7.1% 11.8%

33.3%

0.0%

14.3% 4.8%

35.3%

33.3%

0.0%

85.7% 88.1%

52.9%

33.3%

100.0%

Liking vs. Increase in Loyalty

No Not sure Yes

Contd.

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Yes No Sometimes0.0%

30.0%

7.0%0.0%

40.0%

14.0%

100.0%

30.0%

78.9%

Liking vs. Pre-purchase thought

No Not sure Yes

• Majority of the people who like green brands agreed that they only sometimes (78.9%) they put a thought before purchase as to whether the product is eco-frienly or not. This may be because it is not necessary that they like it through usage. They may be liking it due to various other reasons like postioning, advertisements, utility, benefits etc.

• 40% of them stated that they clearly did not like the idea of thinking about the products they are buying. It can be due to lack of their awareness as a responsible citizen

Contd.

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Extremely likely Moderately likely Not at all likely Slightly likely Very likely0.0%

9.1%

33.3% 33.3%

3.2%16.7%

12.1%

44.4% 44.4%

6.5%

83.3% 78.8%

22.2% 22.2%

90.3%

Liking vs. Chances of purchasing if green

No Not sure Yes

• The results reflect that a major chunk of the consumers (83.3%) are extremely sure that if they come across a green 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• Only 22.2% were not incentivised to pick

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• 44.4% were slightly sure that they would

pick up a green product even though they are not sure whether they like them or not• Even though some did not like green

products echoed that they would buy one and the chances are moderately likely

Contd.

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AWARENESS CROSS-TABS

No Maybe Yes

27.3%12.5% 13.5%

36.4%

46.9%37.8%

36.4% 40.6%48.6%

Awareness vs. Pay Premium

No Not always Yes

• Nearly half of the respndents who knew their current products were willing to pay a premium• Those who didn’t know also showed a

positive sign• Very few people (13.5%) who were

aware were reluctant to give more amount (greenswashing or disbelief)

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Disagree Agree Neither agree nor disagree

Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree

16.7% 14.3%

29.4%

0.0% 0.0%

66.7%

40.5%23.5%

50.0%

100.0%

16.7%

45.2% 47.1% 50.0%

0.0%

Awareness vs. Loyalty

No Not always Yes

• 50% of people who knew what they use strongly agreed that loyalty towards green companies eventually increases. This is because a period of time they become familiar and comfortable in using these products• 6.7% of those who did not know

disbelieved that awareness has anything to do with loyalty towards the brand• A surprising 47% were not sure that

even if they use green products, whether they feel more loyal towards that brand or not. This may be due to lack of connect with the brand

Contd.

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Yes No Sometimes7.7%

40.0%

12.3%

30.8%

60.0%

40.4%

61.5%

0.0%

47.4%

Awareness vs. Pre-purchase

No Not always Yes

• 62% people were always sure that they think what they are buying before they do so. These were people who liked and were aware about the products they use• 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 products going into the consideration set• Majority of those who were not always

sure of what they use did not know either what they are buying. These consumers are less informed and need to be made more aware and conscious

Contd.

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• 66.7% of respondents who knew what types of products they consume, also agreed that it is extremely likely that if they come across a product which is green they will buy it wthout hesitating• This was followed by slight decrease in

the probability by 10-15%• Not surprisingly it was also seen that all

of them who had no idea what they were using will never fall for a product just because it is green because this lot is totally unaware and ignorant• While those who knew their choices

only sometimes will still buy green products. Their is a slight possibility for this as reflected in the resultsExtremely likely Moderately likely Slightly likely Very likely Not at all likely

16.7% 15.2%

33.3%

6.5%

100.0%

16.7%27.3%

55.6%

58.1%

0.0%

66.7%57.6%

11.1%

35.5%

0.0%

Awareness vs. Chance of buying if green

No Not always Yes

Contd.

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No Yes

33.3%

10.8%

26.7%

44.6%

40.0% 44.6%

Awareness vs. Company investment

No Not always Yes

• Nearly half of the respondents who knew what their consumption basket is, also knew about what efforts companies put into it• As expected, a very small set of people

did not know the intensity of investments put into making it green as they did not know what type of products they consume themselves

Contd.

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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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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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Incentivise the consumer

Make it Mass

If it is available, it will be invisible

Recommendations

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• 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.

Conclusion

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THANK YOU

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