GREEN MARKETING

It is also known as environmental marketing & ecological marketing.

MEANING of Green marketing:

Green Marketing means the development, pricing, promotion, and distribution of

products that will not harm the environment. The term ‘green’ indicates purity.

It refers to the process of selling Products or services based on their environmental

benefits.

Aim of Green marketing:

Basic aim- to sustain the environment, in following ways:

1. By eliminating the wastage:

Waste and pollution arise usually from inefficiency. Therefore it focuses on

making things without waste.

2.By reinvesting the concept of waste:

Products should be either consumables or durables. Consumables can be either

eaten or placed in the ground so that they turn into soil without any harm to the
environment. Durables can be made , used and retuned to the manufacturer within
closed loop system.

3. By making Prices reflect the costs:

Every produce should reflect atleast approximate of its actual cost, ie., not only
the direct cost but also the cost of air, water and soil.

Actual cost=Direct cost of production+ Cost of air, water &soil.

4.By making Environmentalism Profitable:

Today consumers recognise that competition in the market place should not
be between the companies harming the environment and those who trying to save
it.
IMPORTANCE OF GREEN MARKETING:

1) OPPORTUNITY:

Business firms perceive green marketing to be an opportunity that can

be used Achieve their objectives.

2) SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:

Many business firms have begun to realize that as members of the wider
community, they must behave in an environmentally responsible manner.
Therefore, environmental issues are being integrated into the firm’s corporate
culture.

3) GOVERNMENT PRESSURE:

The Government agencies are making more and more regulations to

control hazardous wastes produced by industry. These regulations seek to protect
consumers and the society from negative impact of business activities on the
environment.

In some cases, the Government tries to induce business firms and individuals to
become more responsible towards the environment.

4) COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES:

Firms marketing environmental friendly products willl have a competitive

advantage over firms marketing non-environmental friendly products.

5) COST FACTOR:

Firms use green marketing to reduce costs. Firms that can reduce harmful
wastes can gain substantial cost saving. More efficient production processes can
not only reduce wastes but also the need for raw materials. A firm may develop
technology for reducing and recycling wastes. This would reduce the cost of the
product.

6) PURE PRODUCTS:

It provides pure products edible items, fruits & vegetable based on organic
farming. The number of people seeking vegetarian food is on rise.
7) CONSUMPTION OF HERBAL PRODUCTS:

Increased consumption of herbal products instead of processed producers.

8) USE OF BIO FERTILIZERS:

Increasing use of bio fertilizers (made of agro- wastes & warmy- compost)
instead of chemical fertilizers (i.e. organic farming) & minimum use of pesticides.

Problems of green marketing:

1) consumer perceive that green is not as good as the regular stuff:

Consumer perceive that green is not a good as the regular stuff. It is the same
problem when “diet” is put on a product. The brand owners want consumers to
think of diet product as healthier and with fewer calories. For a green product to
more beyond the green enthusiasts and cross-over to the main stream, the
consumers will need to think of the brand in a different way. To do that, work
green in to the message, but also remember to build a strong brand. Potential new
categories should combine green with another strong attribute.

It has been observed that very less proportionate of the marketing message
from “green” campaigns is true to requisite standard & reflect the authenticity
which they claim.

2) Lack of standard quality control:

Until or unless some of regulatory bodies are involved in providing the

certifications which can be proved helpful to verify the authenticity of the
product’s characteristics. A standard quality control board needs to be in place for
such labelling & licensing.

3) Unawareness:

The consumers of different rural and urban hierarchy are gradually becoming
aware of the merits of green product. But it is therefore, become imperactive to
educate the people about growing menace of deteriorating environment.
4) Time consuming process- long

The new green empowerment & advocacy programmes need to reach the
masses and that will be a time consuming process long – gestion period require
patience & preservence; it has been observed that the investors and corporate need
to view the environment as a long – term investment opportunity.

5) Green marketing to begin with costly issue:

Green marketing encourages green goods /services, green technologies,

green power/ energy a lot of money has to be used on R&D programmes. Thus
green marketing to begun with costly issue. The customers may not believe in the
firms strategy of green marketing, the firm therefore should ensure that they
convince the customers about their green product, this can be done by
implementing of eco-labelling schemes.

6)low profit:

Initially the profits will be very low. Since renewable and recyclable products
and green technologies are more costly. Green marketing will be willing to pay a
higher price for green products which may affect the sales of the company.

7) Misleading consumers:

Green marketing is facing a major problem that is ensuring that marketing

activities are not misleading to consumers or industries & do not breach any of the
regulation is the main problem of green marketing.

Fundamental Requirement for Green Marketing

1. Know your customer:

 If you want to sell a greener product to consumer, you first need to make
sure that the consumer is aware of and concerned about the issues that your
product attempts to address.

2. Empower consumer:
 Make sure that consumer feel, by themselves or in concert with all the other
users of your product, that they can make a difference.

 This is called “empowerment” and it’s the main reason why consumers buy
greener products.

3. Be transparent:

 Consumer must believe in the legitimacy of your product and the specific
claims you are making.

4. Reassure the buyer:

 Consumer need to believe that your product performs the job it’s supposed
to do.

 They won’t forego product quality in the name of the environment.

 Besides, products that don’t work well will likely wind up in the trash bin,
and that’s not very kind to the environment.

5. Consider your pricing:

 If you are charging more for your product – and many environmentally
preferable products cost more due to economies of scale and use of higher-
quality ingredients – make sure that consumer can afford the premium and
feel it is worth it.

 Many consumers, of course, cannot afford premiums for any type of

product. So keep this in mind as you develop your target audience and
product specification.

6. Low Entry Barrier:

 Every effort must be made to keep the entry barriers as low as possible.

 If the entry is blocked, consumer will never even be presented with real
choices. The green companies should have low entry barriers.

7. Good Information:
  To encourage a market in green, consumer must have information that is
good enough to allow them to compare the shop among suppliers on the
basis of their costs and the environment characteristics of their resource
portfolio.

8. Corrected Market Failures:

 Even perfectly competitive markets work well when consumers receive the
benefit of the goods them pay for.

 They do not work well when benefits go to people that are not paying for
them.

 The market failures must be corrected and benefits of green should be given
to consumer.

Essentials of green marketing;

1) Green marketing should clearly state environmental wastes.

2) It should explain how environmental benefits are achieved.
3) It should justify the superiority of green marketing over ordinary marketing.
4) It should use meaningful terms and pictures to highlight green marketing.