Green Is the New Caveat Emptor

Taking a closer look at CEA's stats on "green" consumer buying habits.

Not too long ago I was reading Colleen Lerro’s article in Dealerscope, "Using Green to Go From Red to Black," a well-written and thoughtful presentation of some polling data done by CEA.

However there were more questions that came from the article then there were answers. Of special concern to me was the final sentence of the article which read, "Going green can bring your business out of the red and into the black." You have to admit, that is quite a statement.

While most retailers and consumers will encourage manufacturers to bring on the “green” products, in truth both are unwilling to pay the inherent cost in providing the greening of these products. I say this not as a slam on retailers or consumers, but as an expression of my own experience and a business reality. 

There is also that nasty competition thing that goes on between manufacturers. If one company aggressively goes “green” and adds those costs, and a competitor does nothing, that will create a pricing gap that consumers will consider for similar products.

As Lerro states in her article from the data, the top 5 attributes of greening in the consumers mind are; 1) recyclable packaging; 2) recycling product; 3) energy efficiency; 4) packaging made of recycled materials; and 5) biodegradable packaging.

First of all, 1, 4 and 5 are really all the same. So, the take away here is that manufacturers need to package their products in an environmentally appropriate manner. 

The first, fourth and fifth priority to a consumer when making a consumer electronics purchase is centered on that which they will be throwing away! If you ever want to know if consumers throw away the box, simply ask them when they return product if they have the original packaging. Approximately 95% of the time, when asking the consumer for the original packaging, the reply is that it was thrown away. (This high-level research I have done is based upon the guess of two unnamed retail floor salespeople. Thanks, Jill and Fred.)  

We should take time to consider what exactly are you willing to do to help your business go green in the near-term. I was proud to have managed an internal competition among the headquarters folks at Pioneer while I was there.