EXCEL International Journal of Multidisciplinary Management Studies

Vol.2 Issue 5, May 2012, ISSN 2249 8834

Online available at http://zenithresearch.org.in/

GREEN MARKETING

MRS. FATI SHAFAAT*; ARIF SULTAN**

*Sr. Lecturer,
Technical Education & Research Institute (TERI),
P.G.College, Ghazipur.
**Lecturer,
Technical Education & Research Institute (TERI),
P.G.College, Ghazipur.

ABSTRACT

Today there is growing interest among the consumers all over the world regarding protection of
environment. Worldwide evidence indicates people are concerned about the environment and are
changing their behavior. As a result of this, green marketing has emerged which speaks for
growing market for sustainable and socially responsible products and services. The past decade
has shown that harnessing consumer power to effect positive environmental change is far easier
said than done. The so-called "green consumer" movements in the U.S. and other countries have
struggled to reach critical mass and to remain in the forefront of shoppers' minds. While public
opinion polls taken since the late 1980s have shown consistently that a significant percentage of
consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere profess a strong willingness to favor environmentally
conscious products and companies, consumers' efforts to do so in real life have remained sketchy
at best.

One of green marketing's challenges is the lack of standards or public consensus about what
constitutes "green," according to Joel Makower, a writer on green marketing. In essence, there is
no definition of "how good is good enough" when it comes to a product or company making
green marketing claims. This lack of consensus—by consumers, marketers, activists, regulators,
and influential people—has slowed the growth of green products, says Makower, because
companies are often reluctant to promote their green attributes, and consumers are often skeptical
about claims. The popularity of such marketing approach and its effectiveness is hotly debated.
Supporter’s claim that environmental appeals are actually growing in number–the Energy Star
label, for example, now appears on 11,000 different companies' models in 38 product categories,
from washing machines and light bulbs to skyscrapers and homes. The difference is, however,
that green—rightfully so—is on the wane as the primary sales pitch for products. As resources www.zenithresearch.org.in
are limited and human wants are unlimited, it is important for the marketers to utilize the
resources efficiently without waste as well as to achieve the organization's objective. So green
marketing is inevitable. This paper will cover all the aspects regarding green marketing, its
issues, benefits, and practices by different companies.

KEYWORDS: Social Marketing, Green Marketing, Socially responsible Products &

Companies, Green Products.
______________________________________________________________________________
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INTRODUCTION

Consumers want to do the right thing when it comes to protecting the environment and their
health. Even in this economic climate, the green movement is gathering momentum, and it's hard
to miss the deluge of ads introducing new green products from well-known national brands.
These manufacturers are leading the way; studies such as the newly released BBMG Conscious
Consumer Report now show that nearly 80 percent of Americans agree they can make a positive
difference by purchasing products from socially or environmentally responsible companies. As
resources are limited and human wants are unlimited, it is important for the marketers to utilize
the resources efficiently without waste as well as to achieve the organization's objective. So
green marketing is inevitable.

Today in this turbulent and competitive environment where so many unethical practices are
going on in businesses which are regularly losing the interests of consumers. So society expects
business to act as responsible members of the social community as well as to provide goods and
services efficiently. By this the social responsibilities of any corporate houses has became an
important aspects of today's era, in which the conscious efforts are being made by an
organization to maximize its positive impact and minimize its negative impact on society as well
as a whole and on various groups and individuals within society. Business is marketing and vice
versa forcing corporate to go for social responsible activities in which it produces products and
render services for exchanging for money by which needs of man can be fulfilled and the needs
of the society can also be looked after.

In this situation when the consumers are becoming more concerned about what they as well as
business firms can do to protect the environment and the majority of society wants to help firms
clean up the air, water and land. They also must go for finding the new ways to dispose of
garbage, recycle and reuse of packaging. This expectation of the society gave the birth of Green
Marketing as a tool of performing corporate social responsibility.

MEANING

Green marketing refers to the process of selling products and/or services based on their
environmental benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in it or
produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly way.
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The obvious assumption of green marketing is that potential consumers will view a product or
service's "greenness" as a benefit and base their buying decision accordingly. The not-so-obvious
assumption of green marketing is that consumers will be willing to pay more for green products
than they would for a less-green comparable alternative product - an assumption that, in my
opinion, has not been proven conclusively.

While green marketing is growing greatly as increasing numbers of consumers are willing to
back their environmental consciousnesses with their dollars, it can be dangerous. The public
tends to be skeptical of green claims to begin with and companies can seriously damage their
brands and their sales if a green claim is discovered to be false or contradicted by a company's
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Vol.2 Issue 5, May 2012, ISSN 2249 8834
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other products or practices. Presenting a product or service as green when it's not is called green
washing.

GREEN MARKETING- DEFINITION

According to the American Marketing Association, ―Green Marketing‖ is defined as the

development and marketing of products designed to minimize negative effects on the physical
environment or to enhance its quality. However, applying a concrete definition to such a
slippery concept, which has taken many forms and shapes over the years, has proven to be
anything but simple or manageable. And, as you have seen on our Source and Resource site thus
far, green marketing can include a variety of activities in diverse areas.

Green marketing refers to the process of selling products and/or services based on their
environmental benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in it or
produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly way.

As per Mr. J. Polonsky, green marketing can be defined as, "All activities designed to generate
and facilitate any exchange intended to satisfy human needs or wants such that satisfying of
these needs and wants occur with minimal detrimental input on the national environment."

Green marketing involves developing and promoting products and services that satisfy customers
want and need for Quality, Performance, Affordable Pricing and Convenience without having a
detrimental input on the environment.

GREEN MARKETING CAN BE DEFINED IN THREE WAYS

RETAILING DEFINITION: The marketing of products that are presumed to be

environmentally safe.

SOCIAL MARKETING DEFINITION: The development and marketing of products designed

to minimize negative effects on the physical environment or to improve its quality.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFINITION: The efforts by organizations to produce, promote,

package, and reclaim products in a manner that is sensitive or responsive to ecological concerns.

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Green marketing is the process of developing products and services and promoting them to
satisfy the customers who prefer products of good quality, performance and convenience at
affordable cost, which at the same time do not have a detrimental impact on the environment. It
includes a broad range of activities like product modification, changing the production process,
modified advertising, change in packaging, etc., aimed at reducing the detrimental impact of
products and their consumption and disposal on the environment. Companies all over the world
are striving to reduce the impact of products and services on the climate and other environmental
parameters. Marketers are taking the cue and are going green.

Green marketing was given prominence in the late 1980s and 1990s after the proceedings of the
first workshop on Ecological marketing held in Austin, Texas (US), in 1975. Several books on
green marketing began to be published thereafter. According to the Joel makeover (a writer,
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speaker and strategist on clean technology and green marketing), green marketing faces a lot of
challenges because of lack of standards and public consensus to what constitutes "Green". The
green marketing has evolved over a period of time.

Green marketing is a vital constituent of the holistic marketing concept. It is particularly

applicable to businesses that are directly dependent on the physical environment; for example,
industries like fishing, processed foods, tourism and adventure sports. Changes in the physical
environment may pose a threat to such industries. Many global players in diverse businesses are
now successfully implementing green marketing practices.

EVOLUTION OF GREEN MARKETING

There is growing interest among the consumers all over the world regarding protection of
environment. Worldwide evidence indicates people are concerned about the environment and are
changing their behavior. As a result of this, green marketing has emerged which speaks for
growing market for sustainable and socially responsible products and services.

The green marketing has evolved over a period of time. According to Peatti (2001), the evolution
of green marketing has three phases-

First phase was termed as "Ecological" green marketing, and during this period all marketing
activities were concerned to help environment problems and provide remedies for environmental
problems.

Second phase was "Environmental" green marketing and the focus shifted on clean technology
that involved designing of innovative new products, which take care of pollution and waste
issues.

Third phase was "Sustainable" green marketing. It came into prominence in the late 1990s and
early 2000.

WHY GREEN MARKETING

As resources are limited and human wants are unlimited, it is important for the marketers to
utilize the resources efficiently without waste as well as to achieve the organization's objective.
So green marketing is inevitable. www.zenithresearch.org.in

As we have all witnessed, consumer and corporate environmental consciousness has dramatically
elevated in recent years. Related news, events, and proposed legislation seem to emerge and
change at warp speed. More apparent causes and effects of global climate change, depleting
fisheries, deforestation, and the current energy and impending water crises have all caused
people to reassess what they put in their cupboards, dishwashers, and gas tanks, along with what
they do with such things once they’ve been used.

Because of this intensified environmental awareness, it has become increasingly important how a
firm deals with such global challenges. Or, one might argue, it may be even more crucial how a
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firm is viewed in approaching such issues. In this manner, CSR environmental behavior and
―cleantech‖ investments have become essential to a company’s core operations, regardless of the
sector in which the company operates. That is, companies are not only sensing the rising
accountability demands of shareholders, the public, and governmental bodies, but also the
opportunities involved in a ―green products‖ market estimated at US$209 billion.

There is growing interest among the consumers all over the world regarding protection of
environment. Worldwide evidence indicates people are concerned about the environment and are
changing their behavior. As a result of this, green marketing has emerged which speaks for
growing market for sustainable and socially responsible products and services.

Thus the growing awareness among the consumers all over the world regarding protection of the
environment in which they live, People do want to bequeath a clean earth to their offspring.
Various studies by environmentalists indicate that people are concerned about the environment
and are changing their behavior pattern so as to be less hostile towards it. Now we see that most
of the consumers, both individual and industrial, are becoming more concerned about
environment-friendly products. Most of them feel that environment-friendly products are safe to
use. As a result, green marketing has emerged, which aims at marketing sustainable and socially-
responsible products and services. Now is the era of recyclable, non-toxic and environment-
friendly goods. This has become the new mantra for marketers to satisfy the needs of consumers
and earn better profits.

ADOPTION OF GREEN MARKETING

Most of the companies are venturing into green marketing because of the following reasons:

A. OPPORTUNITY

In India, around 25% of the consumers prefer environmental-friendly products, and around 28%
may be considered healthy conscious. There fore, green marketers have diverse and fairly
sizeable segments to cater to. The Surf Excel detergent which saves water (advertised with the
message—"do bucket paani roz bachana") and the energy-saving LG consumers durables are
examples of green marketing. We also have green buildings which are efficient in their use of
energy, water and construction materials, and which reduce the impact on human health and the
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environment through better design, construction, operation, maintenance and waste disposal. In
India, the green building movement, spearheaded by the Confederation of Indian industry (CII) -
Godrej Green business Center, has gained tremendous impetus over the last few years. From
20,000 sq ft in 2003, India's green building footprint is now over 25 million sq ft.

B. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Many companies have started realizing that they must behave in an environment-friendly
fashion. They believe both in achieving environmental objectives as well as profit related
objectives. The HSBC became the world's first bank to go carbon-neutral last year. Other
examples include Coca-Cola, which has invested in various recycling activities. Walt Disney
World in Florida, US, has an extensive waste management program and infrastructure in place.
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C. GOVERNMENTAL PRESSURE

Various regulations rare framed by the government to protect consumers and the society at large.
The Indian government too has developed a framework of legislations to reduce the production
of harmful goods and by products. These reduce the industry's production and consumers'
consumption of harmful goods, including those detrimental to the environment; for example, the
ban of plastic bags in Mumbai, prohibition of smoking in public areas, etc.

D. COMPETITIVE PRESSURE

Many companies take up green marketing to maintain their competitive edge. The green
marketing initiatives by niche companies such as Body Shop and Green & Black have prompted
many mainline competitors to follow suit.

E. COST REDUCTION

Reduction of harmful waste may lead to substantial cost savings. Sometimes, many firms
develop symbiotic relationship whereby the waste generated by one company is used by another
as a cost-effective raw material. For example, the fly ash generated by thermal power plants,
which would otherwise contributed to a gigantic quantum of solid waste, is used to manufacture
fly ash bricks for construction purposes.

BENEFITS OF GREEN MARKETING

Today consumers are becoming more and more conscious about the environment and are also
becoming socially responsible. Therefore, more companies are responsible to consumers'
aspirations for environmentally less damaging or neutral products. Many companies want to
have an early-mover advantage as they have to eventually move towards becoming green. Some
of the advantages of green marketing are-

 It ensures sustained long-term growth along with profitability.

 It saves money in the long run, though initially the cost is more.

 It helps companies market their products and services keeping the environment aspects in
mind. It helps in accessing the new markets and enjoying competitive advantage.
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 Most of the employees also feel proud and responsible to be working for an
environmentally responsible company.

 Maintaining the ecological balance.

 Maintaining the environment eco friendly.

 Increasing awareness of consumers towards their planet.

 Better utilization of natural resources.

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 Performing the social responsibility.

THREE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL GREEN MARKETING

Show potential customers that you follow green business practices and you could reap more
green on your bottom line. Green Marketing isn't just a catchphrase; it's a marketing strategy that
can help you get more customers and make more money. But only if you do it right.

For green marketing to be effective, you have to do three things; be genuine, educate your
customers, and give them the opportunity to participate.

1)BEING GENUINE means that a) that you are actually doing what you claim to be doing in
your green marketing campaign and b) that the rest of your business policies are consistent with
whatever you are doing that's environmentally friendly. Both these conditions have to be met for
your business to establish the kind of environmental credentials that will allow a green marketing
campaign to succeed.

2) EDUCATING YOUR CUSTOMERS isn't just a matter of letting people know you're doing
whatever you're doing to protect the environment, but also a matter of letting them know why it
matters. Otherwise, for a significant portion of your target market, it's a case of "So what?" and
your green marketing campaign goes nowhere.

3) GIVING YOUR CUSTOMERS AN OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE means

personalizing the benefits of your environmentally friendly actions, normally through letting the
customer take part in positive environmental action.

GREEN MARKETING MIX

Every company has its own favorite marketing mix. Some have 4 P's and some have 7 P's of
marketing mix. The 4 P's of green marketing are that of a conventional marketing but the
challenge before marketers is to use 4 P's in an innovative manner.

PRODUCT

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The ecological objectives in planning products are to reduce resource consumption and pollution
and to increase conservation of scarce resources (Keller man, 1978).

PRICE

Price is a critical and important factor of green marketing mix. Most consumers will only be
prepared to pay additional value if there is a perception of extra product value. This value may be
improved performance, function, design, visual appeal, or taste. Green marketing should take all
these facts into consideration while charging a premium price.
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PROMOTION

There are three types of green advertising: -

Ads that address a relationship between a product/service and the biophysical

environment

Those that promote a green lifestyle by highlighting a product or service

Ads that present a corporate image of environmental responsibility

PLACE

The choice of where and when to make a product available will have significant impact on the
customers. Very few customers will go out of their way to buy green products.

CHALLENGES TO GREEN MARKETING

Green products require renewable and recyclable material, which is costly

Requires a technology, which requires huge investment in R & D

Water treatment technology, which is too costly

Majority of the people are not aware of green products and their uses

Majority of the consumers are not willing to pay a premium for green products

DIFFERENT EXAMPLES OF GREEN MARKETING PRACTICES

INTRODUCTION OF CNG IN DELHI

New Delhi, capital of India, was being polluted at a very fast pace until Supreme Court of India
forced a change to alternative fuels. In 2002, a directive was issued to completely adopt CNG in
all public transport systems to curb pollution.

ELECTRONICS SECTOR www.zenithresearch.org.in

The consumer electronics sector provides room for using green marketing to attract new
customers. One example of this is HP's promise to cut its global energy use 20 percent by the
year 2010. To accomplish this reduction below 2005 levels, The Hewlett-Packard Company
announced plans to deliver energy-efficient products and services and institute energy-efficient
operating practices in its facilities worldwide.

WAL-MART

Wal-Mart launched it’s highly visible environmental strategy in 2004. Since then, their goals
have encompassed everything from:
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Cutting energy usage at stores by 30% to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Spending $500 million per year to improve truck fleet fuel economy

Working towards monitoring overseas suppliers to ensure they meet environmental

standards

FAIRMONT

Fairmont has attempted to position their brand as an industry leader in green practices through
several approaches, including:

Hiring a full time director of environmental affairs

Launching a 200-ton per year recycling program

Offering free parking for guests with hybrid cars

Retrofitting lighting with energy efficient bulbs

GENERAL ELECTRIC

In 2005, GE launched their Ecomagination campaign. Clarifying how the green positioning is
integrated with their overall business strategy, CEO Jeffrey Immelt notes that the campaign is
primarily ―a way to sell more products and services‖. To this end, GE has pledged to:

Double investments in clean R&D by 2010

Increase revenues from Eco magination products to $20 billion by 2010

Reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions by 1% over 7 years (when they would have
increased by 40%)

PHILIPS LIGHT'S "MARATHON"

Philips Lighting's first shot at marketing a standalone compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb was
Earth Light, at $15 each versus 75 cents for incandescent bulbs. The product had difficulty www.zenithresearch.org.in
climbing out of its deep green niche. The company re-launched the product as "Marathon,"
underscoring its new "super long life" positioning and promise of saving $26 in energy costs
over its five-year lifetime. Finally, with the U.S. EPA's Energy Star label to add credibility as
well as new sensitivity to rising utility costs and electricity shortages, sales climbed 12 percent in
an otherwise flat market.

CAR SHARING SERVICES

Car-sharing services address the longer-term solutions to consumer needs for better fuel savings
and fewer traffic tie-ups and parking nightmares, to complement the environmental benefit of
more open space and reduction of greenhouse gases. They may be thought of as a "time-sharing"
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system for cars. Consumers who drive less than 7,500 miles a year and do not need a car for
work can save thousands of dollars annually by joining one of the many services springing up,
including Zip Car (East Coast), Flex Car (Washington State), and Hour Car (Twin Cities).

SOME OTHER CASES OF GREEN MARKETING ARE AS FOLLOWS

McDonald’s restaurant's napkins, bags are made of recycled paper.

Coca-Cola pumped syrup directly from tank instead of plastic which saved 68 million
pound/year.

Badarpur Thermal Power station of NTPC in Delhi is devising ways to utilize coal-ash
that has been a major source of air and water pollution.

Barauni refinery of IOC is taken steps for restricting air and water pollutants.

Low – Carbon Food Service by Bon Appetit

Green Building

Green Drivers Programme adopted by Novo Nordisk

Hotel Room Energy Management – Key-card enabled systems

Hybrid Trucks for municipalities in US

Greenputers

Mahindra Hariyali Project

Potato starch trays made by Dutch Paper Foam used in i-Phone reduces 90% carbon
footprint compared to plastic tray

CORPORATE INITIATIVES FOR GREEN MARKETING AS SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITIES

a. Broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd, or NDTV, in partnership with car maker Toyota www.zenithresearch.org.in
Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd launched Greenathon on 7 February—a 24-hour live television
event to create awareness about environmental issues.

b. Reva Electric Car Co. developing a market for electric cars and thereby a sustainable
business—firms are gearing up to bring about a change in the way their businesses and
products are perceived.

c. Panasonic Corp. is working out a go-to-schools interactive campaign to spread

awareness among students on global warming and other environmental issues, to begin
with.
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d. Nokia India Pvt. Ltd has launched a campaign to recycle electronic waste. Consumers are
encouraged to dump old mobile phones and accessories, irrespective of brand, at any of
the 1,300 green recycling bins at Nokia priority dealers and Nokia care centres.

e. Henkel India Ltd launched "eco-learn"—a learning initiative to inculcate environmental

concern and sustainability.

f. Hindustan Unilever Ltd's, or HUL's, Surf Excel Quick Wash talked about how
housewives could save two buckets of water while using premium detergent powder to
wash clothes.

g. Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc. has launched a global campaign Our Home Our Planet to
help consumers save money and minimize their carbon footprint as part of its Carbon 20
programme.

CONCLUSION

Green marketing is based on the premise that businesses have a responsibility to satisfy human
needs and desires while preserving the integrity of the natural environment. This latter concern
has been ignored throughout most of recorded human history does not mean it will be
unimportant in the future. Indeed, there are significant indications that environmental issues will
grow in importance over the coming years and will require imaginative and innovative redesign
and reengineering of existing marketing efforts on the part of many businesses. Solutions to
environmental problems can be characterized into roughly three categories: ethical, legal, and
business (economic and technological). Green marketing and the promotion of responsible
consumption are related with business category.

A clever marketer is one who not only convinces the consumer, but also involves the consumer
in marketing his product. Green marketing should not be considered as just one more approach to
marketing, but has to be pursued with much greater vigor, as it has an environmental and social
dimension to it. Recycling of paper, metals, plastics, etc., in a safe and environmentally harmless
manner should become much more systematized and universal. Green marketing should not
neglect the economic aspect of marketing. Marketers need to understand the implications of
green marketing. If we think customers are not concerned about environmental issues or will not
pay a premium for products that are more eco-responsible, we should think again. The marketer
must find an opportunity to enhance their product's performance and strengthen the customer's www.zenithresearch.org.in
loyalty and command a higher price.

Green marketing is still in its infancy and a lot of research is to be done on green marketing to
fully explore its potential.
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REFERENCES

ARTICLES

Chopra, S. Lakshmi (2007), "Turning Over a New Leaf", Indian Management, Vol-64,
April-2007

Ottman, J.A. et al, "Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia", Environment, Vol-48, June-
2006

Charter M. 1992. Greener Marketing: a Responsible Approach to Business. Greenleaf

Sheffield. Fuller D. 1999, Sustainable Marketing: Managerial– Ecological Issues. Sage:
Thousand Oaks

CA. Greenpeace. 1994. The Greenpeace Book of Greenwash. Greenpeace International:

Amsterdam.

JOURNAL

Marketing Mastermind, January 2009, Green Products: Their Growth and Expansion

WEBSITES

www.greenpeace.org

www.coolavenues.com

www.google.co.in

www.ask.com

www.altavista.com

www.infoseek.com

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www.greenmarketing.net
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