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Green Marketing: A Future Phenomenon

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 IJMRS’s International Journal of Management Sciences, Vol. 02, Issue 01, March 2013 ISSN: 2277-968X

Green Marketing: A Future Phenomenon

Arjun Gupta1, Rohit Bansal2, Dr. Ashutosh Nigam3
1
Assistant Prof., Department of Management Studies, Vaish College of Engineering
Rohtak-124001, Haryana, India
arjunsrgupta@gmail.com
2
Assistant Prof., Department of Management Studies, Vaish College of Engineering
Rohtak-124001, Haryana, India
rohitbansal.mba@gmail.com
3
Associate Prof., Department of Management Studies, Vaish College of Engineering
Rohtak-124001, Haryana, India

Abstract
India is a country with population over 120 crores thus the marketing, refers to an organization's efforts at designing,
demand for goods and services is huge leading to the need of promoting, pricing and distributing products that will not
safety for both i.e. environment and people. Green marketing is harm the environment
means to conserve the environment, meaning there by itself
hidden in the definition of green marketing. Green marketing
Polonsky (1994) defines green marketing as all activities
focus on the product that is environmentally safe. Fortunately,
designed to generate and facilitate any exchanges intended
many companies in the India are leading the way in green
marketing by recognizing the limits of the planet and the needs of to satisfy human needs or wants, such that the satisfaction
the people better and making our planet a better place to live This of these needs and wants occurs, with minimal detrimental
study tried to answer the question what is the concept of green impact on the natural environment.
marketing?, why do we need green marketing in present scenario?
Keywords: Green Marketing, Eco-friendly, Ecological Elkington (1994: 93) defines green consumer as one who
avoids products that are likely to endanger the health of the
consumer or others; cause significant damage to the
1. Introduction environment during manufacture, use or disposal; consume
a disproportionate amount of energy; cause unnecessary
According to the American Marketing Association, green
waste; use materials derived from threatened species or
marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to
environments; involve unnecessary use of, or cruelty to
be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing
animals; adversely affect other countries.
incorporates a broad range of activities, including product
modification, changes to the production process, packaging
Thus it can be seen different authors have defined green
changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet defining
marketing in different view for say Pride and Ferrell (1993)
green marketing is not a simple task where several
and Polonsky (1994) talks of product that dosenot harm the
meanings intersect and contradict each other; an example of
environment while Elkington (1994:93) talks of same thing
this will be the existence of varying social, environmental
in elaborative way, more or less every author agree that
and retail definitions attached to this term. Other similar
green marketing is producing any product with minimal
terms used are “Environmental Marketing” and “Ecological
detrimental to the nature. With growing awareness about
Marketing”. Thus" Green Marketing" refers to holistic
the implications of global warming, non-biodegradable
marketing concept wherein the production, marketing
solid waste, harmful impact of pollutants etc., both
consumption an disposal of products and services happen in
marketers and consumers are becoming increasingly
a manner that is less detrimental to the environment.
sensitive to the need for switch in to green products and
services.
Pride and Ferrell (1993) Green marketing, also alternatively
known as environmental marketing and sustainable

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1.1 Why focus on 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.
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 peaks 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. Now because of
growing awareness we see that most of the consumers, both
individual and industrial, are becoming more concerned
about environment friendly products.
According to the Joel makeover (a writer, 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.
According to Peattie (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.
1.2 Green Products and Their Characteristics
The products those are manufactured through green
technology and that caused no environmental hazards are
called green products. Promotion of green technology and
green products is necessary for conservation of natural
resources and sustainable development. We can define
green products by following measures:
• Products those are originally grown,
• Products those are recyclable, reusable and biodegradable,
• Products with natural ingredients,
2
• Products containing recycled contents, non-toxic
chemical,
• Products contents under approved chemical,
• Products that do not harm or pollute the environment,
• Products that will not be tested on animals,
• Products that have eco-friendly packaging i.e. reusable,
refillable containers etc.
• Products that will not be tested on animals,
1.3 Green Marketing with Marketing Perspective
As others form of marketing, green marketing is also
emerging as specialized branch which needs to be tapped.
Companies are understanding the growing awareness of
consumers for saving the planet on top of it, companies are
understanding the need of consumers for the quality life i.e.
their need for products which are more safer than which are
made of those chemicals or artificial ingredients so to
answer this companies are coming with product which are
made by keeping in mind the concept of green marketing.
2. Objective of the Study
The main objectives of this study are:
1. To outline present trend in the area of green
marketing.
2. To find the challenges in the area of green
marketing.
3. To see the future possibilities in the area green
marketing.
3. Literature Review
Prothero, A. & Fitchett, J.A. (2000) argue that greater
ecological enlightenment can be secured through capitalism
by using the characteristics of commodity culture to further
progress environmental goals. Marketing not only has the
potential to contribute to the establishment of more
sustainable forms of society but, as a principle agent in the
operation and proliferation of commodity discourse, also
has a considerable responsibility to do so.
Karna, J., Hansen, E. & Juslin, H. (2003) interpret that
proactive marketers are the most genuine group in
implementing environmental marketing voluntarily and
seeking competitive advantage through environmental
friendliness. The results also give evidence that green
values, environmental marketing strategies, structures and
functions are logically connected to each other as
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hypothesised according to the model of environmental
marketing used to guide this study.
Donaldson (2005) in his study realized in the Great Britain
initially concluded that in general the ecological attitude of
consumers changed positively. This study reported the
strong faith of consumers in the known commercial brands
and in the feeble behaviour referring to the "green" claims,
which was the main cause behind the consuming failure to
interpret their concerns beyond the environment in their
behavior.
Oyewole, P. (2001). In his paper presents a conceptual link
among green marketing, environmental justice, and
industrial ecology. It argues for greater awareness of
environmental justice in the practice for green marketing. A
research agenda is finally suggested to determine
consumers' awareness of environmental justice, and their
willingness to bear the costs associated with it.
Kilbourne, W.E. (1998) discusses the failure of green
marketing to move beyond the limitations of the prevailing
paradigm. The author identifies areas that must be
examined for their effect in the marketing/environment
relationship, namely economic, political and technological
dimensions of the cultural frame of reference.
Sanjay K. Jain & Gurmeet Kaur (2004) in their study
environmentalism have fast emerged as a worldwide
phenomenon. Business firms too have risen to the occasion
and have started responding to environmental challenges by
practising green marketing strategies. Green consumerism
has played a catalystic role in ushering corporate
environmentalism and making business firms green
marketing oriented. Based on the data collected through a
field survey, the paper makes an assessment of the extent of
environmental awareness, attitudes and behaviour prevalent
among consumers in India. As it has been evident in the
previous research that green marketing is a concept that is
gaining acceptance in customers rapidly further business
understands the need to move towards green product.
4. Present Trend
Green marketing has been widely adopted by the firms
worldwide and the following are the possible reasons cited
for this wide adoption:
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Government Pressure: As with all marketing related
activities, governments want to "protect" consumer and
society; this protection has significant green marketing
implications. Government regulations relating to
environmental marketing are designed to protect consumers
in several ways
Reduce production of harmful goods or by-
products
Ensure that all types of consumers have the ability
to evaluate the environmental composition of
goods. Government establishes regulations
designed to control the amount of hazardous
wastes produced by firms.
Opportunities - As demand changes, many firms see these
changes as an opportunity to exploit and have a competitive
advantage over firms marketing non environmentally
responsible alternatives. For example- McDonald's replaced
its clam shell packaging with waxed paper because of
increased consumer concern relating to polystyrene
production and Ozone depletion.
Competitive Pressure - Another major force in the
environmental marketing area has been firms' desire to
maintain their competitive position. In many cases firms
observe competitors promoting their environmental
behaviors and attempt to emulate this behavior. In some
instances this competitive pressure has caused an entire
industry to modify and thus reduce its detrimental
environmental behavior. For example when one tuna
manufacture stopped using driftnets the others followed
suit.
Social Responsibility - Many firms are beginning to realize
that they are members of the wider community and
therefore must behave in an environmentally responsible
fashion. This translates into firms that believe they must
achieve environmental objectives as well as profit related
objectives. This results in environmental issues being
integrated into the firm's corporate culture. There are
examples of firms adopting both strategies. Even now a
day’s corporate houses are creating separate Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) departments.
4.1 Some Cases
Green marketing continues to be an issue of global interest.
Every now or then everybody seems to take in interest in
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the knowhow of green marketing to acquaint him with the
concept of saving the nature. In fact, Google Trends
reports that, on a relative basis, more searches for “green
marketing” originated from India than from any other
country.
Rank Country
1. India
2. UK
3. US
4. Thailand
5. Australia
6. Canada
7. China
Source: www.greenbiz.com
As it can be seen from the table India tops the list of the
number of hits generated thus it can be understood that
awareness regarding green marketing is growing in India
this can be further understood with following cases.
Case 1: Lead Free Paints from Kansai Nerolac
Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd. has always been committed to
the welfare of society and environment and as a responsible
corporate has always taken initiatives in the areas of health,
education, community development and environment
preservation. Kansai Nerolac has worked on removing
hazardous heavy metals from their paints. The hazardous
heavy metals like lead, mercury, chromium, arsenic and
antimony can have adverse effects on humans. Lead in
paints especially poses danger to human health where it can
cause damage to Central Nervous System, kidney and
reproductive system. Children are more prone to lead
poisoning leading to lower intelligence levels and memory
loss.
Case 2: Best Green IT Project: State Bank of India: Green
IT@SBI
SBI is also entered into green service known as “Green
Channel Counter”. SBI is providing many services like;
paper less banking, no deposit slip, no withdrawal form, no
checks, no money transactions form all these transaction
are done through SBI shopping & ATM cards. SBI
undertook a massive rollout of ATMs during 2009-10. With
4
more than 10,000 ATMs installed, SBI was conscious
about the total carbon footprint. In all of these ATMs, LCD
monitors were deployed in lieu of CRTs. LEDs were used
instead of tube lights or CFL (even in signage’s). 5 star
EER 3.1 rated ACs were installed instead of conventional
high energy consuming ACs. Aluminum composite panels
were put to use instead of wood based materials in the
preparation of sites. Apart from these modifications,
specially designed ATMs were developed and installed that
consumed low energy and require no air conditioning
environment. Even solar powered ATMs were developed
for rural areas. The resulting total energy savings per
annum will be around 48508500 KWH. Assuming
conservatively an average rate of Rs 5 Per unit (for
commercial use the rate varies from Rs 5 to Rs 8 in various
States), the total energy savings per annum will be of about
Rs 24.25 Crore.
On brighter side it can be evidently seen that India in
present is doing some efforts to save environment for the
future, sometime by making law to reduce production of
harmful products, sometime by encouraging the public and
private industry to launch initiative for saving the
environment thus leading to the requirement of the green
marketing which focus on producing the product which are
not made of harmful products, also which have caused no
damage to the environment.
Case 3: IDEA Cellular: “USE Mobile, Save Paper”
IDEA cellular launches new campaign on national level
'Use Mobile, Save Paper' and save the trees. The company
had organized Green Pledge campaigns various Indian
metro cities where many came forward and pledged to save
paper and trees and to protect the environment. IDEA has
also set up some bus shelters with potted plants and tendril
climbers to convey the green message in Mumbai further as
claimed by Idea campaign that millions of tonnes of trees
get cut every day to produce paper, leading to alarming
rates of deforestation. The new Idea television
Commercials showcases how the mobile phone can be used
as an efficient tool to read daily newspapers, generate e-
bills, make payments and transactions, issue e-tickets and
boarding passes; thereby saving tonnes of paper every day."
Case 4: IndusInd Bank: “Hum aur Hariyali’
IndusInd bank has a comprehensive plan to reduce its
carbon footprint. Indusind bank launches a new campaign
called “Hum aur Hariyali’. Some of the initiatives being
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undertaken under this plan are solar-powered ATMs, thin 4. New Concept
computing, e-archiving, e-learning, e-waste management, Indian literate and urban consumer is getting more aware
paperless fax, energy conservation, CNG cars and also about the merits of Green products. But it is still a new
supporting finance programs with incentives to go green. concept for the masses. The consumer needs to be educated
IndusInd new solar ATM replaces the use of conventional and made aware of the environmental threats. The new
energy for 8 hours per day with eco-friendly and renewable green movements need to reach the masses and that will
solar energy. The energy saved will be 1980 kW hrs every take a lot of time and effort. By India's ayurvedic heritage,
year and will be accompanied by a simultaneous reduction Indian consumers do appreciate the importance of using
in CO2 emissions by 1942 Kgs. The uniqueness of this natural and herbal beauty products. Indian consumer is
solar ATM is the ability to store and transmit power on exposed to healthy living lifestyles such as yoga and natural
demand (in case of power failure) or need (time basis). In food consumption. In those aspects the consumer is already
terms of costs, the savings will be substantial, aware and will be inclined to accept the green products.
approximately Rs. 20,000 per year in case of a commercial
user with grid power supply and in areas with erratic power 6. Suggestion to Overcome Challenges
supply the solar will replace diesel generators and translate
into savings as high as Rs. 40,200 every year. Knowing Customer: Make sure that the consumer is aware
of and concerned about the issues that your product
attempts to address, (Whirlpool learned the hard way that
5. Challenges in Green Marketing
consumers wouldn't pay a premium for a CFC-free
refrigerator because consumers dint know what CFCs
Based on the experience from the past green marketing
were.).
initiatives it has been seen while launching a green product
a marketer more or less face the following challenges.
Customer Education: As it is been observed green products
tend to have slightly higher prices thus customer should
1. Lack of Standardization
know why he is paying higher?, Whatever effort a marketer
It is found that only 5% of the marketing messages from
is putting in making green product, customer should have
“Green” campaigns are entirely true and here is a lack of
full knowledge about it.
standardization to authenticate these claims. There is no
standardization to authenticate these claims. There is no
100% Genuine in approach: means that you do whatever
standardization currently in place to certify a product as
you are claiming in your green marketing campaign. The
organic. Unless some regulatory bodies are involved in
claim and actual thing should not vary.
providing the certifications there will not be any verifiable
means. A standard quality control board needs to be in
Buyer Reassurance: Consumers must be made to believe
place for such labeling and licensing.
that the product performs the job it's supposed to do-they
won't forego product quality in the name of the
2. Marketing Myopia
environment.
Green marketing is focusing on customer benefits i.e. the
primary reason why consumers buy certain products in the
Consider Your Pricing: If you're charging a premium for
first place. If the green products are priced very high then
your product-and many environmentally preferable
again it will lose its market acceptability.
products cost more due to economies of scale and use of
higher-quality ingredients-make sure those consumers can
3. Patience
afford the premium and feel it's worth it.
The investors and corporate need to view the environment
as a major long-term investment opportunity, the marketers
Leading brands should recognize that consumer
need to look at the long-term benefits from this new green
expectations have changed: It is not enough for a company
movement. It will require a lot of patience and no
to green its products; consumers expect the products that
immediate results. Since it is a new concept and idea, it will
they purchase pocket friendly and also to help reduce the
have its own acceptance period.
environmental impact in their own lives too.
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Give 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.
7. The Future of Green Marketing
As the population of world is increasing, the resources are
destroyed double of that pace, so it is need of future. Green
marketing can help customers and corporate houses to
cooperate in saving the scare resources for the forthcoming
generation. There are many lessons to be learned to be
learned to avoid green marketing myopia, the short version
of all this is that effective green marketing requires
applying good marketing principles to make green products
desirable for consumers. The question that remains,
however, is, what is green marketing's future? Business
scholars have viewed it as a “fringe” topic, given that
environmentalism's acceptance of limits and conservation
does not mesh well with marketing's traditional axioms of
“give customer what they want” and “sell as much as you
can”. Evidence indicates that successful green products
have avoided green marketing myopia by following three
important principles:
Consumer Value Positioning
• Design environmental products to perform as well as (or
better than) alternatives.
• Promote and deliver the consumer desired value of
environmental products and target relevant consumer
market segments.
• Broaden mainstream appeal by bundling consumer
desired value into environmental products.
Calibration of Consumer Knowledge
• Educate consumers with marketing messages that connect
environmental attributes with desired consumer value.
• Frame environmental product attributes as “solutions” for
consumer needs.
• Create engaging and educational internet sites about
environmental products desired consumer value.
Credibility of Product Claim
• Employ environmental product and consumer benefit
claims that are specific and meaningful.
• Procure product endorsements or eco-certifications from
trustworthy third parties and educate consumers about the
meaning behind those endorsements and eco certifications.
• Encourage consumer evangelism via consumers social
and internet communication network with compelling,
interesting and entertaining information about
environmental products.
8. Conclusion
The Environmental problems in India are growing rapidly due
to growing population thus leading to the need for the
initiative which benefits the both marketers and customers, so
it’s the right time to implement the green marketing and
business is understanding the problem and coming forward
with the solutions such as seen by State Bank of India and by
Nerolac. Green Marketing makes drastic change in the
business not even in India but save the world from pollution.
Corporate should create the awareness among the consumers,
what are the benefits of green as compared to non-green ones
so the future of green marketing can be the shining and
consumer do not hesitate from paying little higher.
9. References
[1] Prothero, A. (1998). Green Marketing: The 'Fad' That Won't
Slip Slide Away. Journal of Marketing Management, 14(6),
July, pp. 507-513.
[2] Prothero, A. & Fitchett, J.A. (2000). Greening Capitalism:
Opportunities for Green Community. Journal of
Macromarketing, 20(1), pp. 46-56.
[3] Oyewole, P. (2001). Social Costs of Environmental Justice
Associated with the Practice of Green Marketing. Journal of
Business Ethics, 29(3), Feb, pp. 239-252.
[4] Karna, J., Hansen, E. & Juslin, H. (2003). Social
Responsibility in Environmental Marketing Planning.
European Journal of Marketing, 37(5/6), pp. 848-873.
[5] Donaldson, R. H. (2005), ―Green brands, NZ Marketing
Magazine, 24(8), 14–17.
[6] Chitra, K. (2007). In search of the green consumers: A
perceptual study. Journal of Service Research
[7] Kilbourne, W.E. (1998). Green Marketing: A Theoretical
Perspective. Journal of Marketing Management, 14(6), July,
pp. 641-656.
[8] Sanjay K. jain & Gurmeet kaur (2004), Green Marketing: An
Attitudinal and Behavioural Analysis of Indian Consumers,
Global Business Review, Vol.5 no. 2 187-205.
[9] J.A Ottman,. et al, "Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia",
Environment, Vol-48, June-2006
[10] Chopra, S.Lakshmi, “Turning Over a New Leaf”, Indian
Management, Vol. 64, April 2007.
[11] Green Marketing Strategy
(www.greenmarketing.net/stratergic.html)
[12] Green Marketing Search Trend on Google
(http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2007/12/28/look-back-green-
marketing-2007)
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[13] Julie Stein and Ann Koontz 2009: Green Marketing Trends –
Guidance for Wildlife Friendly Products to Understand and
Access Green Markets (http://www.enterpriseworks.org/)
[14] Winning at Green: Exploring the Potential for Green
Innovation using the Nielsen BASES System and NMI’s
LOHAS Segmentation Model:
(http://en_us.nielsen.com/etc/medialib/nielsen_dotcom/en_us/
documents/pdf/white_papers.Par.39825.File.dat/Final%20Win
ning%20at%20Green%20White%20Paper.pdf )
[15] State Bank of India: Green IT@SBI
(http://www.dare.co.in/strategy/it-outsourcing/best-green-it-
project-state-bank-of-india-green-itsbi.htm)
[16] Green Bank Report – Covering Eco Friendly Banking :
(http://greenbankreport.com/tag/state-bank-of-india/)
[17] Nerolac - Painting a better tomorrow :
(http://www.nerolac.com/low-VOC/)
[18] IDEA introduces innovative 'Use Mobile, Save Paper'
campaign
(http://www.knowyourmobile.in/mobileoperators/idea/394197
/idea_introduces_innovative_use_mobile_save_paper_campai
gn.html)
[19] Idea’s Sustainability Initiatives -
(http://www.ideacellular.com/wps/wcm/connect/aboutus/idea/
info/sustainability)
[20] IndusInd Bank’s green initiative
(http://www.rincon.co.in/site/blog/2010/01/05/indusind-
banks-green-initiative/)
[21] For banks, green is the new black (http://www.business-
standard.com/article/beyond-business/for-banks-green-is-the-
new-black-110052100014_1.html) Hum Aur Hariyali
(http://www.thectoforum.com/content/hum-aur-hariyali)

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