Journal of Business Excellence

ISSN: 0976–7711 & E-ISSN: 0976–772X, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2011, PP-18-23

GREEN MARKETING – EMERGING DIMENSIONS

SANDEEP TIWARI1,2*, DURGESH MANI TRIPATHI2, UPASANA SRIVASTAVA3, YADAV P.K.2*

*Corresponding Author: Email-

Received: November 26, 2011; Accepted: December 12, 2011

Abstract- The importance of Green Marketing can well be emphasised by stating the fact that majority of consumers in all
the countries want to buy from environmentally responsible companies. Consumers say environmental consciousness is an
important corporate priority – ranking behind good value, trustworthy, and cares about customers. Consumers expect green
companies to engage in a broad set of actions, particularly reducing toxics, recycling and managing water. Many consumers
prefer to spend more on green products, especially in developing economies.
The worldwide emphasis on Green Marketing is primarily due to environmental concerns, climate change, water
management issues, deforestation, etc. However the consumer is inclined towards green products but is still confused as
regards labelling, certification and various green advertising. Moreover it is a challenge to buying green as selection
spectrum is limited. Companies can connect with consumers by improving product selection and communications. The
evolution of Green marketing over the period has lead to determine the essential and important marketing mix elements.
What & why factors of Green Marketing have been explained in detail in the article. The detailed study of various
components of Green Marketing helps in laying down the various opportunities and challenges that a Green Marketer faces.
Recommendations to make Green marketing a success story have been elaborated by enumerating the simple rules to be
followed. The conclusion focuses on various aspects of green behaviour, sustainability and other measures for Green
marketing to gain foothold for the betterment of the society at large.

Green Marketing–Emerging Dimensions of pollutants, etc. Both marketers and consumers are
Many people believe that green marketing refers solely becoming increasingly sensitive to the need for switch in
to the promotion or advertising of products with to green products and services.
environmental characteristics. Generally terms like The holistic marketing concept advocates the philosophy
Phosphate Free, Recyclable, Refillable, Ozone Friendly, that businesses must develop products and marketing
and Environmentally Friendly are some of the things strategies that not only address the needs of the
consumers most often associate with green marketing. In consumers but also safeguard the long-term interests of
general green marketing is a much broader concept, one those consumers as well as those of society at large [7].
that can be applied to consumer goods, industrial goods Business organizations are often accused of making
and even services. products and packaging as well as using manufacturing
According to the American Marketing Association, green processes that damage the environment. The green
marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed movement holds that it is a part of the responsibility of
to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing business organizations to ensure that they conduct their
incorporates a broad range of activities, including product activities such that they do minimum harm to the
modification, changes to the production process, environment.
packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. While the shift to "green" may appear to be expensive in
Other similar terms used are the short term, it will definitely prove to be indispensable
and advantageous, cost-wise too, in the long run. Green
Environmental Marketing and Ecological Marketing. marketing was given prominence in the late 1980s and
Green marketing, also termed ecological marketing (Fisk 1990s after the proceedings of the first workshop on
1974), and environmental marketing (Coddington 1993), Ecological marketing held in Austin, Texas (US), in 1975.
is an integral constituent of the holistic marketing Many organizations want to turn green, as an increasing
concept. Green Marketing refers to holistic marketing number of consumers' ant to associate themselves with
concept wherein the production, marketing consumption environmental-friendly products. Green marketing is
and disposal of products and services happen in a defined as "Green or Environmental Marketing consists
manner that is less detrimental to the environment with of all activities designed to generate and facilitate any
growing awareness about the implications of global exchanges intended to satisfy human needs or wants,
warming, non-biodegradable solid waste, harmful impact such that the satisfaction of these needs and wants

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 Green marketing – emerging dimensions

occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the natural additional value if there is a perception of extra product
environment" (Polanski 1994). This definition value. This value may be improved performance,
incorporates much of the traditional components of the function, design, visual appeal, or taste. Green marketing
marketing definition, that is "All activities designed to should take all these facts into consideration while
generate and facilitate any exchanges intended to satisfy charging a premium price.
human needs or wants" Therefore it ensures that the
interests of the organization and all its consumers are Promotion
protected, as voluntary exchange will not take place There are three types of green advertising: -
unless both the buyer and seller mutually benefit. The  Campaigns that address a relationship
above definition also includes the protection of the between a product/service and the biophysical
natural environment, by attempting to minimize the environment.
detrimental impact this exchange has on the  Campaigns that promote a green lifestyle by
environment. This second point is important, for human highlighting a product or service
consumption by its very nature is destructive to the  Campaigns that present a corporate image of
natural environment. So green marketing should look at environmental responsibility
minimizing environmental harm, not necessarily Place
eliminating it. The choice of where and when to make a product
The obvious assumption of green marketing is that available will have significant impact on the customers.
potential consumers will view a product or service's Very few customers will go out of their way to buy green
"greenness" as a benefit and base their buying decision products.
accordingly. The not-so-obvious assumption of green When looking through the literature there are several
marketing is that consumers will be willing to pay more suggested reasons for firms increased use of Green
for green products than they would for a less-green Marketing. Five possible reasons are as follows:
comparable alternative product - an assumption that, in  Organizations perceive environmental
my opinion, has not been proven conclusively. While marketing to be an opportunity that can be
green marketing is growing greatly as increasing used to achieve its objectives.
numbers of consumers are willing to back their  Organizations believe they have a moral
environmental consciousnesses with their dollars, it can obligation to be more socially responsible.
be dangerous. The public tends to be skeptical of green Governmental bodies are forcing firms to
claims to begin with and companies can seriously become more responsible.
damage their brands and their sales if a green claim is  Competitors' environmental activities pressure
discovered to be false or contradicted by a company's firms to change their environmental marketing
other products or practices. Presenting a product or activities.
service as green when it's not is called green washing.  Cost factors associated with waste disposal, or
According to Peattie (2001), the evolution of green reductions in material usage forces firms to
marketing has three phases. First phase was termed as modify their behaviour.
"Ecological" green marketing, and during this period all
 As resources are limited and human wants are
marketing activities were concerned to help environment
unlimited, it is important for the marketers to
problems and provide remedies for environmental
utilize the resources efficiently without waste
problems. Second phase was "Environmental" green
as well as to achieve the organization's
marketing and the focus shifted on clean technology that
objective. So green marketing is inevitable.
involved designing of innovative new products, which
 There is growing interest among the
take care of pollution and waste issues. Third phase was
consumers all over the world regarding
"Sustainable" green marketing. It came into prominence
protection of environment. Worldwide evidence
in the late 1990s and early 2000.
indicates people are concerned about the
environment and are changing their behavior.
Marketing Mix of Green Marketing
As a result of this, green marketing has
Every company has its own favorite marketing mix.
emerged which speaks for growing market for
Some have 4 P's and some have 7 P's of marketing mix.
sustainable and socially responsible products
The 4 P's of green marketing are that of a conventional
and services.
marketing but the challenge before marketers is to use 4
Besides above, organizations are adopting Green
P's in an innovative manner.
Marketing because of following reasons:
Product
The ecological objectives in planning products are to
Social Responsibility
reduce resource consumption and pollution and to
Many firms are beginning to realize that they are
increase conservation of scarce resources (Keller man,
members of the wider community and therefore must
1978).
behave in an environmentally responsible fashion. This
Price
translates into firms that believe they must achieve
Price is a critical and important factor of green marketing
environmental objectives as well as profit related
mix. Most consumers will only be prepared to pay
objectives. This results in environmental issues being

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 Sandeep Tiwari, Durgesh Mani Tripathi, Upasana Srivastava, Yadav PK

integrated into the firm's corporate culture. Firms in this Cost or Profit Issues
situation can take two perspectives; Reduction of harmful waste may lead to substantial cost
 They can use the fact that they are savings. Sometimes, many firms develop symbiotic
environmentally responsible as a marketing relationship whereby the waste generated by one
tool; or company is used by another as a cost-effective raw
 They can become responsible without material. For example, the fly ash generated by thermal
promoting this fact. There are examples of power plants, which would otherwise contributed to a
firms adopting both strategies. gigantic quantum of solid waste, is used to manufacture
While this behaviour is a competitive advantage, the firm fly ash bricks for construction purposes.
was established specifically to offer consumers When attempting to minimize waste, firms are often
environmentally responsible alternatives to conventional forced to re-examine their production processes. In these
cosmetic products. This philosophy is directly tied to the cases they often develop more effective production
overall corporate culture, rather than simply being a processes that not only reduce waste, but reduce the
competitive tool. need for some raw materials. This serves as a double
An example of a firm that does not promote its cost savings, since both waste and raw material are
environmental initiatives is Coca-Cola. They have reduced.
invested large sums of money in various recycling
activities, as well as having modified their packaging to Implementation of Green Marketing in India
minimize its environmental impact. While being In India, around 25% of the consumers prefer
concerned about the environment, Coke has not used environmental-friendly products, and around 28% may
this concern as a marketing tool. Thus many consumers be considered healthy conscious. There fore, green
may not realize that Coke is a very environmentally marketers have diverse and fairly sizeable segments to
committed organization. cater to.
The Surf Excel detergent which saves water (advertised
Governmental Pressure with the message” do bucket paani roz bachana") and
As with all marketing related activities, governments want the energy-saving LG consumers durables are examples
to "protect" consumers and society; this protection has of green marketing. We also have green buildings which
significant green marketing implications. Governmental are efficient in their use of energy, water and
regulations relating to environmental marketing are construction materials, and which reduce the impact on
designed to protect consumers in several ways, human health and the environment through better
 Reduce production of harmful goods or by- design, construction, operation, maintenance and waste
products; disposal. In India, the green building movement,
 Modify consumer and industry's use and/or spearheaded by the Confederation of Indian industry
consumption of harmful goods; or (CII) - Godrej Green business Centre, has gained
 Ensure that all types of consumers have the tremendous impetus over the last few years. From
ability to evaluate the environmental 20,000 sq ft in 2003, India's green building footprint is
composition of goods. now over 25 million sq ft.
Companies that develop new and improved products and
Various regulations rare framed by the government to services with environment inputs in mind give
protect consumers and the society at large. The Indian themselves access to new markets, increase their profit
government too has developed a framework of sustainability, and enjoy a competitive advantage over
legislations to reduce the production of harmful goods the companies which are not concerned for the
and by products. These reduce the industry's production environment.
and consumers' consumption of harmful goods, including Many companies want to have an early-mover
those detrimental to the environment; for example, the advantage as they have to eventually move towards
ban of plastic bags in Mumbai, prohibition of smoking in becoming green. Some of the advantages of green
public areas, etc. marketing which firms want to exploit are:
 It ensures sustained long-term growth along
Competitive Pressure with profitability.
Many companies take up green marketing to maintain  It saves money in the long run, thought initially
their competitive edge. In some instances this the cost is more.
competitive pressure has caused an entire industry to  It helps companies market their products and
modify and thus reduce its detrimental environmental services keeping the environment aspects in
behaviour. For example, it could be argued that Xerox's mind.
"Revive 100% Recycled paper" was introduced a few  It helps in accessing the new markets and
years ago in an attempt to address the introduction of enjoying competitive advantage.
recycled photocopier paper by other manufacturers. In  Most of the employees also feel proud and
another example when one tuna manufacture stopped responsible to be working for an
using driftnets the others followed suit. environmentally responsible company.

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Journal of Business Excellence
ISSN: 0976–7711 & E-ISSN: 0976–772X, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2011
 Green marketing – emerging dimensions

 A strong commitment to environmental preferences, green marketing myopia can also occur
sustainability in product design and when green products fail to provide credible, substantive
manufacturing can yield significant environmental benefits.
opportunities to grow your business, to There are a number of potential problems that must be
innovate, and to build brand equity. All you overcome. One of the main problems is that firms using
have to do is get the word out...right? green marketing must ensure that their activities are not
There are however, several problems associated with misleading to consumers or industry, and do not breach
organizations attempts to undertake green marketing any of the regulations or laws dealing with environmental
practices. One major problem is that very often products marketing. Green marketing claims must clearly state
that are more environmentally safe cost more. Though environmental benefits. Reacting to competitive
consumers say that they are willing to pay 7 to 20 % pressures can cause all "followers" to make the same
more for green products (Darymple and Parsons 2002), mistake as the "leader." Thus blindly following the
they are not be willing to do this for expensive product- competition can have costly ramifications.
items or for products where the price differential between Green marketing faces a lot of challenges because of
green and non-green brands is more. Consumers may lack of standards and public consensus to what
not like the performance or quality of green products. constitutes "Green". In essence, there is no definition of
Moreover, if firms make the packaging of their brands "how good is good enough" when it comes to a product
smaller, they may be at a disadvantage because of the or company making green marketing claims. This lack of
reduced visibility of their brands on retail shelves. In consensus—by consumers, marketers, activists,
addition, smaller packaging may be perceived as regulators, and influential people—has slowed the
reduced quantity and will present a smaller surface for growth of green products because companies are often
promotional messages. Some other factors are the threat reluctant to promote their green attributes, and
of recession tightening not only our budgets, but also our consumers are often skeptical about claims. Another
customers' budgets , increased pressure around ROI— challenge green marketers -- old and new -- are likely to
again within own brand and among customers and a face as green products and messages become more
widening set of geographies to reach and manage. common is confusion in the marketplace. "Consumers do
India’s green brands have specific challenges like given not really understand a lot about these issues, and
the current low levels of consumer awareness about there's a lot of confusion out there," says Jacquelyn
global warming; India’s brands need to help raise Ottman. Marketers sometimes take advantage of this
consumer consciousness. Indian manufacturers have yet confusion, and purposely make false or exaggerated
to find a market for green products. But by embracing the "green" claims.
green imperative, and investing in green initiatives and
consumer education, Indian brands can break this Recommendations for Green Marketing
vicious cycle. To avoid marketing myopia
The analysis of past research and marketing strategies
Green washing finds that successful green products have avoided green
A survey into green marketing in Australia has found marketing myopia by
almost all products carrying environmentally friendly Following three important principles: “The Three Cs” of
claims are guilty of green washing. Terra Choice, an consumer value positioning, calibration of consumer
environmental marketing firm, has released its Seven knowledge, and credibility of product claims.
Sins of Green washing report, which scrutinises the
environmental claims companies put on products to see Consumer Value Positioning
if they are misleading. It shows that more companies are The marketing of successfully established green
using environmental claims but that 98 per cent have products showcases non green consumer value, and
committed at least one of the seven sins. Most were there are at least five desirable benefits commonly
guilty of the "sin of no proof", or making claims associated with green products: efficiency and cost
unsupported by third-party verification. effectiveness; health and safety; performance;
symbolism and status; and convenience.
Green marketing myopia
Green marketing must satisfy two objectives: improved Calibration of Consumer Knowledge
environmental quality and customer satisfaction. Many of the successful green products employ
Misjudging either or overemphasizing the former at the compelling, educational marketing messages and
expense of the latter can be termed “Green Marketing slogans that connect green product attributes with
Myopia”. desired consumer value. That is, the marketing programs
Research indicates that many green products have failed successfully calibrated consumer knowledge to
because of green marketing myopia marketers’ myopic recognize the green product’s consumer benefits. The
focus on their products’ “greenness” over the broader main steps are:
expectations of consumers or other market players (such  Educate consumers with marketing messages
as regulators or activists). Aside from offering that connect environmental product attributes
environmental benefits that do not meet consumer with desired consumer value (for example,

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 Sandeep Tiwari, Durgesh Mani Tripathi, Upasana Srivastava, Yadav PK

“pesticide-free produce is healthier”; “energy- supposed to do. They won't forego product
efficiency saves money”; or “solar power is quality in the name of the environment.
convenient”). 5. Consider your pricing. If you're charging
 Frame environmental product attributes as more for your product - and many
“solutions” for consumer needs (for example, environmentally preferable products cost more
“rechargeable batteries offer longer due to economies of scale and use of higher-
performance”). quality ingredients - make sure that consumers
 Create engaging and educational Internet sites can afford the premium and feel it's worth it.
about environmental Many consumers, of course, cannot afford
products’ desired consumer value (for premiums for any type of product these days,
example, Tide Cold water’s interactive Web much less greener ones, so keep this in mind
site allows visitors to calculate their likely as you develop your target audience and
annual money savings based on their laundry product specifications.
habits, utility source (gas or electricity), and zip 6. Being genuine and honest means that a)
code location). that you are actually doing what you claim to
be doing in your green marketing campaign
Credibility of Product Claims and b) that the rest of your business policies
Credibility is the foundation of effective green marketing. are consistent with whatever you are doing
Green products must meet or exceed consumer that's environmentally friendly.
expectations by delivering their promised consumer 7. Educating your customers isn't just a matter
value and providing substantive environmental benefits. of letting people know you're doing whatever
Often, consumers don’t have the expertise or ability to you're doing to protect the environment, but
verify green products’ environmental and consumer also a matter of letting them know why it
values, creating misperceptions and scepticism. The matters. Otherwise, for a significant portion of
actions required are: the target market, it's a case of "So what?" and
 Employ environmental product and consumer the green marketing campaign goes nowhere.
benefit claims that are specific, meaningful, 8. Build better products. Consumers will not
unpretentious, and qualified (that is, compared think better of green products until companies
with comparable alternatives or likely usage make them equal to, or better than, their
scenarios). conventional alternatives. It’s no surprise: most
 Procure product endorsements or eco- people value performance, reliability, and
certifications from trustworthy third parties, and durability much more than ecological
educate consumers about the meaning behind soundness.
those endorsements and eco-certifications. 9. Offer more. Companies must ensure that
 Encourage consumer evangelism via consumers understand the financial and
consumers’ social and Internet communication environmental returns on their investment in
networks with compelling, interesting, and/or green products; for they are more willing to try
entertaining information about environmental new ones-especially those that cost more-
products. when they find it easy to track the savings.
10. Bring products to the people. Having
Simple Rules of Green Marketing decided to buy green products, many
1. Know your customer. If you want to sell a consumers encounter a last hurdle-finding
greener product to consumers, you first need them-either because manufacturers don’t keep
to make sure that the consumer is aware of up with demand or advertise where they can
and concerned about the issues that your be bought, or because wholesalers and
product attempts to address. retailers don’t stock them or display them
2. Empower consumers. Make sure that prominently. Bio fuel enthusiasts, for example,
consumers feel, by themselves or in concert must often drive out of their way to fill up.
with all the other users of your product, that So while the traditional marketing answer to the question,
they can make a difference. This is called Should we market to the green consumer? Has been
"empowerment" and it's the main reason why yes, the better answer is this: Instead of focusing on a
consumers buy greener products. This green niche, focus on green behaviors that everyone can
powerful principle underlies so many aspire to. The bottom line: Marketing needs to define
campaigns laden with tips. what sustainability means for their company and then
3. Be-transparent. Consumers must believe in decide how to express those values in their offerings.
the legitimacy of your product and the specific Companies should stop trying to appeal to green
claims you are making. consumers by building green myths into the products
4. Reassure the buyer. Consumers need to they have and start creating something real products that
believe that your product performs the job it's tell their environmental story for them.

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ISSN: 0976–7711 & E-ISSN: 0976–772X, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2011
 Green marketing – emerging dimensions

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