This paper was presented in the Ist International Conference on Business & Information Management (ICBIM), 2012, organized by NIT, Durgapur. This is basically a research paper aiming to contribute towards the growing ecological concern that most marketers want to address these days. It also tries to unveil consumer behaviour towards the purchase and consumption of eco-friendly products.

2. AN ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
TOWARDS GREEN PRODUCTS

4. WHAT IS GREEN MARKETING ?

5. WHAT IS A GREEN PRODUCT ?

6. WHY ARE FIRMS GOING GREEN ?

7. • Macdonald’s have stopped packaging their
hamburgers etc in polystyrene containers and now
use cardboards which comes from a renewable resource
and is biodegradable or recyclable .
Hotels around the world are turning eco-
friendly by the use of herbal toiletries, stationery from
recycled paper, “no-smoking” rooms, less detergents
and wasting less water, spending on gardens and
orchards.

8. The production process is compatible with ecosystem
It is compatible with goals of the company
It satisfies the consumers

9. Eco label is an environmental claim that
appears on the packaging of a
product, making it easy for the consumers to
take environmental concerns into account
when shopping.
It is awarded to a manufacturer by an
appropriate authority. ISO 14020 is a guide
to the award of Eco-labels.
The government of India launched an
Eco-mark Scheme in 1991 to encourage the
customers to purchase those products which
have less harmful environmental impact.

10. THE 4 GREEN P’s
1. Green Product : Attributes such as energy saving, organic
etc. that leads to reduction in resource consumption and
pollution.
2. Green Price : Most consumers will pay additional value if
there is a perception of extra product value .
3. Green Place : Aiming to reduce carbon footprint by way of
managing logistics to cut down transport emanations.
4. Green Promotion : To address the relationship between a
product and the environment, to promote green life
style, and to present a corporate image of environmental
responsibility.

11. CONSUMER
DEMOGRAPHIC
(Age, Gender, Income, Ed
ucation)
ELEMENTS OF
GREEN MARKETING
Product PURCHASE
Price DECISION
Place
Promotion

12. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
• Research Objective :
To investigate the factors that influence
consumers’ choice of eco-friendly products over
conventional products
&
To find out the relation between consumers’
attitude and perception towards green marketing
w.r.t price sensitivity and quality.

13. • Sample Size, Sample Unit and Sample Design :
150 respondents, Age Group of 25-30 years,
Convenience Sampling.
• Sources of Data :
Both Primary and Secondary Data.
Primary data has been collected through a
structured questionnaire and personal interviews
and observation.

14. 56 % respondents have ever purchased a green product, 44 %
have not purchased yet and 75 % of this 44 % respondents who
are yet to purchase green products may buy it in the future.
28 % respondents always prefer buying green products over
traditional products, 20 % respondents frequently buy green
products over traditional products, 8 % sometimes buy green
products over traditional products whereas 44 % respondents
never buy green products over traditional products.
Only 35.33 % respondents are willing to pay premium to
purchase green products.

15. Regarding familiarity with green products, 24.44 % of
respondents have come to know about green products through
magazines, 22.22 % through newspapers, 15.56 % have come
across green products on the internet and 12.22 % have been
acquainted with it in store.
Surprisingly, the role of electronic media (TV and Radio) is
negligible in creating familiarity to green products (6.67 % and
11.11 % respectively).

16. 89.29 % of green product users are willing to recommend green
products to others, 9.09 % of respondents would like
recommending green products , though they themselves have not
yet used, on account of factors like environment protection
responsibility, safe for health etc. The rest finds green products not
worthy of recommendation due to a host of factors like costlier, not
much difference in performance or quality, customers are cheated
by companies in the name of green products etc.
Quality of the product is the top most priority factor, then
price, place and promotion respectively in influencing the
purchase of green product.

17. Quality and Certification are the two considerable variables (since got
same rank with same probability) while purchasing green products. It is
also clear that price is not at all a considerable variable for selection of
green products, rather, being “eco-friendly” and “good for health” are
much more important.
37.73 % respondents are in favor of saving utility bills and so prefer paying
premium for green products, 18.86 % respondents prefer paying premium
because green features are eco-friendly, 15.09% respondents are ready to
pay premium as they feel responsible towards protecting the environment.

18. CONCLUSION
• Consumer Behavior plays a major role in the choice of
green products.
• The marketers of green products / services need to be more
innovative and dynamic to compete with the changing
purchase behavior among customers.
• The study brought out the fact that the people are
considerably well aware of green products, but not loyal
entirely towards it due to a host of factors like expensive, not
much difference when compared to traditional products in
terms of performance and quality, commercials being
perceived as gimmick only, etc.

19. CONCLUSION CONTD…
CONCLUSION
• To attract customers more towards green
products, the marketers must create promotions
which are both realistic and have moral values
and the product availability in terms of volume
and variety are also important.
• Business organizations should start following
green marketing strategies as it offers incentives
and growth opportunities in the long
term, though it may involve huge start-up costs.

20.  Either Fold It Or Let It Be Unfold
 Just Going Green Is Not Enough, Be Transparent
 Know Your Consumers
 Empower Your Consumers
 One Size Doesn’t Fit All
 Make Yourself Audible To The Consumers
 Mull Over Pricing
 Selecting The Right Name
 Take Advantage Of Govt. Regulation That Mandates
Behavior Change

21. ~ Tanusree Bhowmick & Subhojit Chakraborty
Astt. Prof, DSMS GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS
DURGAPUR