A Study On Impact Of Green Marketing

Special Reference to Coimbatore City

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INTRODUCTION

According to the American Marketing Association, Green Marketing is the marketing of

products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing incorporates
a broad range of activities, including Product modification, Changes to the production
process, Packaging changes, as well as Modifying advertising.

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.

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
customer’s want and need for Quality, Performance, Affordable Pricing and
Convenience without having a detrimental input on the environment.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The limited natural resources of the earth have to be used judiciously to satisfy the human needs
causing minimal environmental damage. Otherwise, mankind will face consequences of
environmental degradation. Mass production is inevitable to satisfy Earth‟s enormous expanding
population. Conservation efforts to remedy the situation will not succeed unless these efforts
include the participation of all concerned - the general public and the government, individuals
and groups, consumers and producers, young and old. Businesses will incur additional costs in

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pursuing eco-friendly green processes that will however be economical in time. Green marketing
efforts are therefore appropriate for businesses in developing countries like India

HISTORY OF GREEN MARKETING

Although some considerations were given to green marketing in the 1970s, it was actually in the
late 1980s that the idea of green marketing came out. All began in Europe in the early 1980s
when some manufactured goods were discovered to be harmful to the natural environment. Since
that, green marketing has gone through three phases.

The late 1980s marked the first phase of green marketing when the concept of “green marketing”
was first discussed. The first phase was termed “Ecological” green marketing. Throughout that
stage, all marketing activities were attempting to provide solutions to environmental problems.
Marketers began to indulge in different forms of green marketing to satisfy the needs and want of
the consumers. It was thought that people would buy green products and this would, in turn,
increase the organization’s goodwill. These would help to capture a greater share of the market.
Nevertheless, nothing happened as expected. The reason put forward for this repercussion was
greenwashing. Businesses were only showing that they were green but the truth is that they were
doing nothing. Firms were just adding up environmental claims to their existing products in
order to increase sales.

Green marketing entered the second phase when marketers witnessed the backlash. The Second
phase was termed “Environmental” green marketing. During that phase, the focal point shifted to
clean technology, which was about designing new products which would not harm the natural
environment.

At the start of the mid-1990s, people began to be more aware of the protection and preservation
of the natural environment. People were becoming more alert about environmental problems.
This marked the third phase. The latter was termed “Sustainable” green marketing. As customers

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were buying products and services that were less detrimental to the natural environment,

organizations were forced to change their selling behaviors.

The Importance of Green Marketing

1. Green marketing helps raise awareness about environmental issues and encourages
consumers to make more sustainable choices.
2. By promoting eco-friendly products and practices, companies can differentiate
themselves from their competitors and appeal to consumers who are increasingly seeking
out environmentally responsible products and services.
3. It can also help companies reduce their environmental impact by promoting products and
practices with a lower carbon footprint or recycled materials.
4. Companies that are seen as environmentally responsible can benefit from increased
customer loyalty and a positive brand reputation.
5. By embracing sustainable practices and promoting them through marketing campaigns,
companies can help to drive positive change and contribute to a more sustainable future.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Green marketing, also known as environmental marketing or sustainability marketing, involves

promoting environmentally friendly products or services to consumers. The focus is on
developing and promoting products or services that have minimal impact on the environment,
are energyefficient or renewable, and promote sustainability. The impact of green marketing
has been studied by scholars and researchers around the world. Here is a review of some of the
literature on the subject:

1. Alp et al. (2008) found that the knowledge of environmentdepends on their gender
because girl’s attitude was foundstatistically significant towards the environment
safety.Those students who have comparatively more knowledgeabout the environment
they show willingness to makesome sacrifices about care of environment.
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2. Kim & Chung (2011) found that Past experiences withorganic personal care products
also have an impact on purchase intention of such kind of products.
3. Gupta & Ogden (2009) stated that purchasing of green products depends on certain
individual characteristics aslike reference groups, trust in others, and success of green
products and cost of cooperation to the individual. Green product success depends on
consumer tendency andunderstanding of green marketers for individual factors
toencourage the cooperation.

4. Park & Ha (2012) have found difference in proenvironmental behaviour of green

product purchaser andgreen product non-purchaser, and different psychologicalfactors
regarding the recycling. Purchasers have thedifferent levels of attitudes, behavioural
intention towardsrecycling & personal norms.

5. Rowlands et al. (2002) emphasised on three things namelycost, public perception of

environmental impact andenvironmental certification which should be considered
bydevelopers of green power product. A significantdifference was found in this study
regarding thewillingness to pay a large premium for green power.

6. Chan (2004) revealed that China is facing problem of protecting the environment for
developing its economy.Chinese government actively involved in manydevelopment
and economic projects due to which theyhave faced the degradation of ecological
conditions anddepilation natural resources.

7. Eraj & Martizaz (2006) defined that those individuals whohave most value about
ecological matters, they have ahigher environmental knowledge. Those consumers
whowere aware of environmental problem tried to dosomething about to solve these
problems.

8. Cateora Graham, in International Marketing, has drawn a parallel line between

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 green marketing and product development. The author has cited a variety of examples
where the importance of green marketing has been laid focus on. Green marketing is a
term used to identify concern with the environmental consequences of a variety of
marketing activities. It very evident from the author’s research and examples the
packaging and solid waste rules are burdensome but there are successful cases of not
only meeting local standards but also being able to transfer this approach to other
markets.

9. Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller in Marketing Management has initiated the
topic by discussing about the relevance of green marketing in the past few decades
and has also discussed the explosion of environmentally friendly products. However,
according to the author from the branding perspective green marketing programs have
not been very successful. Marketers tried and failed with green sales pitches over the
last decade because of certain obstacles which the movement encountered. The
consumer behaviour is such that most consumers appear unwillingly to give up the
benefits of other alternatives to choose green products.

10. Debraj Dutta and MahuaDutta, of Marketing Management, have given an

explanation of what is greenmarketing. According to the authors green marketing
incorporates a broad range ofactivities including the modification of product, production
process and packaging.The authors have also discussed a few literature sources that
have focused on greenmarketing and its relevance in today’s era. It was evident that the
possible reasons because of which organizations engage in green marketing.

11. K.K.Shrivastava & Sujata Khandai, the author of Consumer Behaviour in Indian
Context, has discussed green marketing legislation in association with the
multinational corporations. These face a growing variety of legislation designed to
address environmental issues. Global concern for the environment extends beyond
industrial pollution, hazardous waste disposal and rampant deforestation to include
issues that focus directly on consumer products.

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12. Kenneth E. Clow & Donald Baack the authors of Integrated Advertising,
Promotion and Marketing Communication. According to the authors the marketers
need to be aware of the threats and opportunities associate with four trends in the
natural environment namely shortage of raw materials, increased cost of energy,
increased pollution levels and the changing roles of government. New regulations hit
certain industries very hard and also that consumers often appear conflicted about the
natural environment.

13. Jacquelyn A. Ottman the author of Green Marketing: Opportunity for

Innovation, has explained green marketing from an organizational standpoint,
environmental considerations should be integrated into all aspects of marketing new
product development and communications and all points in between. According to the
author environment should be balanced with primary customer needs. 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. The lack of consensus
by consumers, marketers, activists, regulators, and influential people has slowed the
growth of green products.

14. According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is

the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green
marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification,
changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying
advertising. It could be concluded that defining green marketing is not a simple task
where several meanings intersect and contradict each other; an example of this will be
the existence of varying social, environmental and retail definitions attached to this
term. As we know that the emerging greenhouse gas reduction market can potentially
catalyze projects with important local environmental, economic, and quality-of-life

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 benefits. The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), for example,
enables trading between industrial and developing nations, providing a framework that
can result in capital flows to environmentally beneficial development activities.

15. Prof. Sanjit Kumar Dash author of Green Marketing: Opportunities &
Challenges has mentioned that 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. The
evolution of green marketing involves (three phases) from this article. 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.

16. In the Strategic Marketing and Green Marketing, the Green Imperative is
impossible to ignore, and companies are scrambling to understand how to develop
business models that are more sustainable. After an objective analysis of all product,
process, and policy issues associated with your company as well as performing an
assessment of your current marketing strategy, we can develop a comprehensive
sustainability and corporate responsibility strategy to increase ROI. The organization
will then become more efficient through environmental and social responsibility,
achieve superior competitive advantage and brand differentiation, as well as enhance
your brand image in the marketplace.

17. In accordance with the Strategic Marketing - Brand Development and Green
marketing the brand image is derived from marketing strategy. We can develop the
brand identity and mold the company's image within the framework of the strategic

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 marketing plan. This strategy and design teams develop the marketing
communications materials around maintaining a positive, distinctive, and consistent
brand image in the marketplace.
18. The American Wind Energy Association has associated green marketing with wind
energy. Green marketing can improve the environmental profile of the U.S. electricity
supply if marketers sell a power product that includes a substantial fraction of wind,
geothermal, biomass (including landfill gas) and/or solar resources. The generation of
power from these renewable resource technologies produces few or no air emissions,
no carbon. They will be most vulnerable in competitive markets and can most benefit
from consumer support. While "green" is difficult to define, and arguments can be
made that natural gas and large hydropower are less environmentally harmful than
coal, oil, and nuclear power, green-customer demand is unlikely to exceed the supply
of large, existing quantities of gas and hydro resources.

19. Anja Schaefer from the The Open University (BBC) has mentioned that green
marketing is there in a sizeable market segment of green consumers who are willing to
pay a little more for environmentally friendly products from environmentally friendly
companies. Producers and retailers will react to this green demand and
environmentally friendly practices will be pushed through the supply chain. Green
marketing dates back several decades now, with specialist manufacturers and retailers
such as Ben and Jerry’s, the Body Shop and so forth, leading the way.

20. Green Marketing and Social Networks have discussed the problems related to the
idea of greening the world through marketing. The article has discussed that
organizations are not running charities and their main objective should be to align
their own objectives with that of the protection of the environment. And if it is really
delivered the environmental goods will deliver positive results for the organization.
The programme already lists quite a few problems with the various environmental
targets and actions described by retailers.

21. David Wigder the writer of Reframing Global Warming across the

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 Political Spectrum provides a different approach towards green marketing from this
article. The author says that the green marketers are challenged to efficiently reach
consumers and effectively impact their attitudes and behaviors. Marketing Green’s
mission is to provide industry professionals with practical strategic marketing advice
on how to build green brands and motivate mass market adoption of more sustainable
products. Today, there is a common perception that Democrats are more
proenvironment than Republicans.

22. Green marketing and biotechnology has provided a relationship

between. Biotechnology is often used to refer to genetic engineering technology of the
21st century however the term encompasses a wider range and history of procedures
for modifying biological organisms according to the needs of humanity, going back to
the initial modifications of native plants into improved food crops through artificial
selection and hybridization. With the development of new approaches and modern
techniques, traditional biotechnology industries are also acquiring new horizons
enabling them to improve the quality of their products and increase the productivity of
their systems. Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in
agriculture, food , science and medicine.

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