Impact of Green Marketing Tools on Consumer Buying Behaviour

 

Anupreet Kaur Mokha

Assistant Professor, SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi

 

ABSTRACT:

Green marketing refers to the marketing of products and services that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Green marketing is different from traditional marketing, as green marketing focuses on promoting environmental friendly products. It is also known as Environmental or Ecological marketing. These activities are rapidly growing across the globe and have an important role in creating awareness among the consumers regarding the eco-friendly products and their impact on the environment which helps the consumers in their buying decisions. This paper attempts to analyze the impact of green marketing tools i.e. eco-labeling, eco-branding and environmental advertising, on consumers buying behavior. Linear Regression technique has been used to analyze the objective. Results show that eco-labels, eco-brands and environmental advertising show a positive and significant impact on consumer buying behavior.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

In the modern era of globalization, the biggest need of the time is not only to keep the customers and consumers intact but also to keep our natural environment safe. Consumers are aware about the increasing environmental issues such as global warming, acid rain, depletion of ozone layer and degradation of land etc. This resulted in increase in consumer concern towards eco-friendly products for the rehabilitation of ecological balance As today’s consumers are becoming more and more conscious of natural products, businesses are beginning to modify their own thoughts and behavior in order to meet the concerns of the consumers. This has created some impact on the marketing. Many corporations such as McDonald’s , Walmart , Procter and Gamble,Du-point etc. have appreciated that the environment must be protected and enhanced to economic growth by taking various actions to fulfil the needs of the environment.

They are using herbal toiletries, stationary from recycled paper, no-smoking rooms, less wastage of water, less detergents, use of polystyrene containers for packaging hamburgers etc.Apart from consumers and businesses, even government has also taken several initiatives by making many regulations in support of protection of environment. Thus, Green marketing refers to the marketing of products and services based on the environmental sake. It can be rightly said that green marketing is a holistic concept involving environmentally friendly practices in all the stages such as the production, designing, marketing and selling of goods or services.

 

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:

The conceptual framework of this paper is broadly divided into two parts:

1. Green Marketing: Meaning:

According to American Marketing Association, Green Marketing refers to the marketing of products and services that are presumed to be environmentally safe. It assimilates a wide range of activities such as:

 

·        Modification of product

·        Alteration to the production process

·        Sustainable packaging

·        Improving advertising

 

So in absolute term, green marketing refers to the process of selling the goods or rendering the services with the minimal detrimental impact on the environment. Such goods or services are either eco-friendly in itself or are packaged or produced in the most eco-friendly manner. Green marketing entails development and promotion of the products or services that satisfies the needs and wants of the consumers in respect of quality, affordability, performance and convenience without having any detrimental damage to the environment. With the growing awareness about the various environmental problems both the marketers and the consumers acknowledges to switch into the green products and services.

 

2) Green Marketing Tools:

The three green marketing tools, such as Eco-label, Eco-brand and Environmental advertisement, are considered in this study as an enrichment to a consumer’s knowledge about environmental friendly products. These tools will make perception easier and will increase the awareness of green products attributes and features which will help consumers into buying environmentally friendly products. They are used to help the consumers distinguish between green products and conventional products. Applying these policy tools plays an important role in altering consumer buying behavior to purchase these products, therefore, reducing the harmful impact of synthetic products on the environment. The three main green marketing tools are as follows:

 

a)      Eco-Labels:

Eco- labeling is one of the most significant green marketing tools which is used on environmentally friendly products. They are used to promote the identification of green products. It provides information regarding the environmental performance of the products. It is an environmental claim that appears on the packaging of the products making it easier for the customers to take into consideration the environmental concerns while buying. It is awarded to a manufacturer by appropriate authority. ISO 14020 is the guide to Eco-label. In India, the government of India has introduced eco-mark scheme since 1991 to encourage the consumers to buy the environmentally friendly products which do not harm the environment.

 

b)     Eco-Brands:

As the time is changing, the definition of branding is also changing as previously branding was just to make the consumers aware about the products. Now, the companies are moving towards the new concept of branding i.e. Eco Branding. Eco-brand is a name, symbol or design of products that are not harmful to the environment. They help consumers to differentiate these products from other non-green products. It is a kind of implementing corporate social responsibility by going eco-friendly. For Example: Wipro InfoTech was India's first company to launch environment friendly computer peripherals. For the Indian market, Wipro has launched a new range of desktops and laptops called Wipro Greenware. These products are RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) compliant thus reducing e-waste in the environment. Thus, eco-branding emerges as an essential tool of green marketing as it can be easily distinguished and consumers finds no difficulty in finding them.

 

c)      Environmental Advertising:

Environmental Advertising means advertising the products in the most eco-friendly manner. Most of the organizations have chosen environmental advertisements through the media or newspapers as a method of introducing their products to environmentally responsible consumers. The main objective of green advertisements is to persuade consumers’ buying behavior by encouraging them to buy the products that are harmless to the environment and to direct their attention towards the affirmative outcomes of their buying behavior.

 

Consumer Buying Behavior:

Consumer behavior is the behavior exhibited by the individuals, groups and organizations in planning, purchasing and using economic goods and services to satisfy their needs and wants. There are four types of consumer buying behavior: Complex buying behavior, Variety-Seeking buying behavior, Dissonance Reducing behavior and Habitual buying behavior. Kotler (1994) highlighted various factors that affects the consumer buying behavior: Cultural, Social, Personal and Psychological factors. Green consumer is defined as one who prefers to adopt eco-friendly behaviors or buys green products over the standard alternatives. They are the ones who believe that an individual consumer can be effective in environmental protection. Thus, considered it as their own responsibility to contribute towards environmental protection.

 

In this study, the focus is on the impact of green marketing tools on consumer buying behavior i.e. Are the consumers actually aware of their need to go for eco-friendly products and whether these green marketing tools affect their buying decisions.

 

 

 

 

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Kassarjian (1971): The author in his research studied consumers’ reaction towards a gasoline that reduced air pollution and found that the consumers’ attitude toward air pollution was the most important factor in determining consumers’ behavior toward the eco-friendly products. Thus, his study stated that the environmental concerns considered as an important tool in deciding purchase decisions

 

Balderjahn (1988): He conducted a study in Germany and found that a consumers have a positive attitude towards green products which helps them in having an ecologically conscious living. It also prompted consumers to publicly show environmental concern by moving forward and sign the petition against antipollution organization and support and join these institutions.

 

Goldman (1991) and Chase and Smith (1992): The authors in their study found that the environmental messages in advertisements and product labeling was found to be unenthusiastic for the consumers in their buying behavior. Only 6% were in favour of environmental advertising while remaining very not sure whether these environmental advertising helps in their buying decisions or not.

 

Kim and Choi (2005): The author also found that environmental concern directly influences green buying behavior. The people were more align towards the products which are less harmful or not at all harmful to the environment.

 

Sammer and Wustenhagen (2006): They conducted a study to identify whether eco-labels play an important tool in consumer buying behavior and found that eco-label considered as an important tool as it helps to allocate asymmetric information between sellers and buyers. They also state that labels provide two main functions for consumers which are information function and value function which helps them in their purchase decisions.

 

Rashid (2009): The author conducted a study in Malaysia towards the awareness of eco-labels and found that if the consumers are made aware of the eco-friendly products featuring their attributes through eco-labels then consumer would strongly prefer to buy these green products.

 

Elham Rahbar (et al, 2011):They proposes to determine the impact of green marketing tools on consumer’s buying behavior in case of Penang (Malaysia).They conducted a survey on 250 respondents of Chinese, Malay, Indian and other races that represents the Penang population. They performed Factor analysis, Cronbach alpha and multiple regressions to identify the factors that impact Penang consumer’s actual buying behavior. Their study showed that the customer’s trust in eco-labelling and eco-branding and their perception of eco-branding shows a positive and significant effect on their actual buying behavior.

 

Delafrooz,N., Taleghani,M., and Nouri, B.(2013) : The author in their study stated that the three main  green marketing tools i.e. eco-label, eco-brand and environmental advertisement, will make perception more easier and will increase the awareness of green products attributes and features which will help consumers into buying environmentally friendly products.

 

Neha Mahajan (2016): The author in her study conducted a survey on 100 respondents of Chandigarh to measure the impact of these marketing tools on consumer buying behavior. She uses Linear Regression technique and found the consumers are easily able to recognize eco-labels and they trusted eco-brands when they made a purchasing decision. Further she also stated that there is no significant impact of environmental advertising on the consumer buying behavior.

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

To test the impact of green marketing tools on consumer buying behavior, the following methodology has been applied:

 

1. Objectives of the study:

a)      To find out if consumers are aware of environmentally friendly products.

b)     To identify the significant and positive relationship between green marketing tools (i.e. Eco-labels, Eco-brands and Environmental advertisements) and customers buying behavior.

c)      To identify which green marketing tool is most widely considered by the consumers while making purchase decisions.

d)     To what extent, consumers are willing to pay higher prices for the environmental friendly products.

 

2. Sampling Design:

A structured questionnaire was administered for the purpose of research on 152 respondents. It was divided into four sections:

Section A dealt with the demographic characteristics of the respondents.

Section B dealt with the perception of eco-label as a guide to consumers for recognizing eco-friendly products.

Section C dealt with the impact of eco-brand on consumer buying behavior.

Section D dealt with perception towards environmental advertising.

 

All the data was collected on the three main factors i.e. Awareness, Trust and Knowledge using likert scale 5 point. (1= strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3= Neutral, 4= Agree, 5= Strongly Agree).Samples are drawn from various regions of Delhi-NCR.

 

3. Methods of Data Collection:

Primary Data was collected from 152 respondents through questionnaire to analysis whether they are aware of the green products and also to identify the impact of green marketing tools on customer buying behavior. Secondary Data: Substantial data was collected from various books, published nationals and international journals, various websites, etc.

 

4. Research Tools:

For the findings of the study, Linear Regression technique was performed using SPSS Software version 23.

 

5. Hypotheses:

On the basis of mentioned objectives, the present study aims at test the following hypothesis (null hypothesis):

H₀: A significant and positive relationship exists between green marketing tools and customers buying behavior:

§  H_01: A significant and positive relationship exists between eco labels and consumers’ buyingbehavior.

§  H₀₂: A significant and positive relationship exists between eco brands and consumers’ buyingbehavior.

§  H₀₃: A significant and positive relationship exists between environmental advertising and consumers’ buyingbehavior.

 

6. Limitation and Scope of the Study:

No study is immune to limitations. The present study suffers from the following limitations:

1.      The results in the present study are based on sample of 152 only, which is comparatively very small as compared to the overall population.

2.      The respondents might have given biased opinion.

3.      To select sample, the present study has used the convenient sample. So, the results may be influenced by sampling error.

 

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:

A study was conducted on 152 respondents to identify the impact of green marketing tools on consumer buying behavior. Findings of the study are as follows:-

 

A. A significant and positive relationship exists between eco-labels and customers buying behaviour.

 

Table 1                                                                                                          Model Summary

 

Table 2                                                                                                          ANOVA^a

a. Dependent Variable: Eco-labeling guides in purchasing eco-friendly products.

b. Predictors: (Constant), Awareness, Trust and Knowledge of Eco-labels.

 

Table 3                                                                                             Coefficients^a

a. Dependent Variable: Eco-labeling guides in purchasing eco-friendly products.

 

To test the hypothesis, is a significant and positive relation exists between the eco-labels and consumer buying behavior, Linear Regression Model has been used on the three factors i.e. Awareness, Trust and Knowledge. The R value in Table 1 represents that the simple correlation is 0.861 (the “R” Column) which indicates a high degree of correlation. Table 2 indicates that the regression model statistically significantly predicts the dependent variable as the value of p is 0.00003 which is less than 0.05 (i.e. the regression model is a good fit for the data). Table 3 puts more clarity by showing the values for all the above three factors i.e. awareness, trust and knowledge of eco-labels and indicates that the values are statistically significant at 0.05 for only two factors i.e. awareness (.001) and knowledge about eco-labels (.004) Hence the hypothesis (H₀₁) is partially accepted for these two factors and rejected for trust on eco-labels.

B. A significant and positive relationship exists between eco-brands and customers buying behaviour.

 

Table 1                                                                                      Model Summary

a. Predictors: (Constant), Awareness, Trust and Knowledge of Eco-Brands

 

Table 2                                                                                      ANOVA^a

a. Dependent Variable: Eco-branding helps in differentiating the products and making purchase decision.

b. Predictors: (Constant), Awareness, Trust and Knowledge of Eco-Brands

 

Table 3                                                                                      Coefficients^a

a. Dependent Variable: Eco-Branding helps in differentiating the products and helps you in making purchase decision.

 

To test the hypothesis, is a significant and positive relation exists between the eco-brands and consumer buying behavior, Linear Regression Model has been used on the three factors i.e. Awareness, Trust and Knowledge. The R value in Table 1 represents that the simple correlation is 0.913 (the “R” Column) which indicates a high degree of correlation. Table 2 indicates that the regression model statistically significantly predicts the dependent variable as the value of p is 0.00002 which is less than 0.05 (i.e. the regression model is a good fit for the data). Table 3 puts more clarity by showing the values for all the above three factors i.e. awareness, trust and knowledge of eco-brands and indicates that the values are statistically significant at 0.05 for only two factors i.e. awareness (.034) and trust on eco-brands (.001) Hence the hypothesis (H₀₂) is partially accepted for these two factors and rejected for knowledge about eco-labels.

 

C. A significant and positive relationship exists between environmental advertising and customers buying behaviour.

 

Table 1                                                                                      Model Summary

a. Predictors: (Constant), Awareness, Trust and Knowledge of Environmental Advertising.

 

Table 2                                                                                      ANOVA^a

a. Dependent Variable: Dependence on environmental advertisements for purchasing decisions.

a. Predictors: (Constant), Awareness, Trust and Knowledge of Environmental Advertising.

 

Table 3                                                                                                                              Coefficients^a

Model		Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.
		B	Std. Error	Beta
1	(Constant)	.146	.156		.932	.353
	Awareness of environmental advertisements	.177	.073	.168	2.437	.016
	Trust on environmental advertisements	.063	.060	.704	0.828	.340
	Knowledge about environmental advertisements	.377	.173	.468	2.093	.009

a. Dependent Variable: Dependence on environmental advertisements for purchasing decisions.

 

To test the hypothesis, is a significant and positive relation exists between the environmental advertising and consumer buying behavior, Linear Regression Model has been used on the three factors i.e. Awareness, Trust and Knowledge. The R value in Table 1 represents that the simple correlation is 0.905 (the “R” Column) which indicates a high degree of correlation. Table 2 indicates that the regression model statistically significantly predicts the dependent variable as the value of p is 0.000003 which is less than 0.05 (i.e. the regression model is a good fit for the data). Table 3 puts more clarity by showing the values for all the above three factors i.e. awareness, trust and knowledge of eco-brands and indicates that the values are statistically significant at 0.05 for two factors i.e. awareness (.016) and knowledge about environmental advertising (.009) .Hence the hypothesis (H₀₃) is partially accepted for these two factors and rejected for trust in environmental advertising.

 

D. The figure 1 shows the very important part of our research i.e. the three main green marketing tools which influences the consumer buying behavior and concluded that (73%) of the respondents consider all the three tools i.e. Eco-labels, Eco-brands and Environmental advertising while making their purchase decisions whereas only (9%) consider eco-Brands, (14%) eco-labels and (4%) environmental advertising as an individual perceptive.

 

Figure1: Green marketing tools considered while making purchase decisions.

 

E. 82% of the respondents are aware of environmental friendly products.

F. 50% of the respondents are willing to pay higher prices for the green products.

 

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS:

Green marketing has been rapidly increasing across the globe. These activities have increased its importance in human being’s life. Human beings have now understood the necessity of being a green consumer and to adopt the environmentally friendly products. The study was conducted to find the impact of green marketing tools (eco-labels, eco-brands and environmental advertising) on consumer buying behavior and found that they do have a positive impact on consumer buying decisions. From the survey, it is found that the consumers are aware of the eco-friendly products and nearly half of the respondents agreed on the fact that eco-friendly products are important to protect the environment and almost one third of the respondents considered these products while making their purchase.

 

The study reveals that the consumers are very well aware of the eco-labels and they have the perquisite knowledge about the eco-labels buy still they lack trust on this labels. So, there is a need to encourage consumers to trust these eco-labels. Also the producers must use trained graphic artist so that they can design better eco-labels to attract the consumers.

 

The study showed that the eco-brands also have a positive influence on buying decisions as consumers are aware of the brands and also they have trust on these brands which helps them in differentiating these from the other unconventional brands. Environmental Advertising also plays a vital role. Consumers are aware of environmental advertising and also they have knowledge about the same but still there is a need to motivate the consumers towards environmental friendly products as consumers lack trust in these tools.

 

Therefore, it is the responsibility of the government also to monitor the credibility and trustworthiness of the messages in these three tools and should move ahead and inform the citizens about the meaning and the availability of the new eco-labels, eco-brands and environmental advertisements in the market and also help the consumer to know benefits of using them on the environment.

 

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