Green Marketing

Green Marketing

There is a student walking on the street on a chilly and raining night. She feels like to hold a cup of hot coffee in her hands to fight the chilliness. She walks directly toward Starbucks whenever an advertisement comes up to her mind. The advertisement says that the customers who bring their own cups will save ten dollars per cup at Starbucks. After a while, she holds a cup of coffee with satisfaction since she not only saved money but also did something good for the environment for not using a disposable cup.

This kind of “green marketing” promotion is common in Taiwan. Before talking about green trend or the awareness of environmental-friendliness, that gets popular around the world, let us begin with the definition of “green marketing”. It widely covers various areas, such as manufacture and advertisement which are environment-friendly. “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.” Owing to the globalization, most enterprises standardize the marketing strategies around the world, so as to benefit from large-scale economics, including production, logistics, marketing, management and so on. Hence, these enterprises are greatly influenced by green marketing. For those enterprises that do not catch up the green marketing strategy, they would be gradually be excluded or eliminated.

“Years from now, 2006 will be remembered the year environmentalism-and all things green-pushed into the mainstream. President Bush warned of our harrowing addiction to fossil fuels; and his former foil, Al Gore, hauled in an Oscar for his environmental expose, вЂ?An Inconvenient Truth’."

Nevertheless, in contrast, there are people who in doubt , and regard this kind of concept works as a new marketing strategy for better reputation kind of trick to fish for fame and compliments by hang on the big signboard written with” green”; however, do nothing good for the environment. “The responsibility for giving not-so-sustainable products a green faceвЂ"as well as for making truly green products as desirable as their counterpartsвЂ"lies entirely in the hands of designers, as the make-up artists and storytellers for brands." despite their great profit potential, the companies in the green marketing are usually considered profit-oriented by general public; nonetheless, there are reasons that this industry benefits both general and environment. As the following, these benefits are discussed in the perspectives of company, customer, and environment.

Although green marketing is getting popular in short order, there are some difficulties need to be overcame by company, such as the undeveloped technique of green manufacture process and high selling price of green product. Therefore, green marketing still need time to develop more mature in order to be applied successfully in diverse industries.

First of all, let begin with how much benefit green companies that are assumed the greatest vested interest actually gained. How the giant profit bring by green product? Contribute to the identifiable green feature of the products, when customer consume the product include the green qualities would feel that they not only buy the product that were originally needed but also do the environment a favor. Increasingly modern customers are willing to consume green product for representing their effort to the environment.

In addition, green issue apart, those products really benefit customer with their qualities such as “efficient” or” healthier” since those attributes of them are framed to meet the solution for customer need, for example, pesticide-free produce is healthier. “Broaden mainstream appeal by bundling consumer-desired value into environmental products (such as fixed pricing for subscribers of renewable energy).” Those reasons were mentioned above would lead to the rise in sales volume.

The brand’s image could be promoted is another advantage of running project with green marketing. General speaking, there are two pars would be benefit by the promotion of brand’s image, one is free advertising, another is social expectation. Although companies decide to be green would spend an amount of costs for modifying the procedure or change their facilities, once they done their reform they could gain the rate for showing up through media such as newspaper, magazine or TV as it a suitable material which modern people concern a lot for news subject matter. There is an example in the “pocket more green with green hype” shows that a car wash company” Westport Wash & Wax”, after they installing the panels for covering the roof, their change was featured in two local newspaper; moreover, a web site and the cable-news channel covered them.” In addition to free advertising, they could meet the quality to which modern society would look forward. Especially the time when the issue of global warming is concerned by whole world, the more rich life people live the higher responsibility would be expected to enter prices.

Secondly, let us move to the customer’s benefit that is the aspect is valued and emphasized the most by experts in green marketing. Obviously, saving money is the most direct and practical profit for green product consumers. The green product always with specific qualities that good for health or energy-saving such as rechargeable batteries provides longer services. There is an example about construction industry represent this kind of benefits.” Originally, mainstream consumers worried that green buildings would include inferior building materials, leading to decreased longevity. "The reality is, however, that green buildings are increasingly cleverly designed, often technically innovative structures that are super energy/resource-efficient, and work in harmony with the seasons.”

In some cases, such as human-powered product, also one kind of green product, when users use them could obtain two kinds of advantages both in material and immaterial part. The convenience use and lower price could produce good feeling while products are being used. “Product always works. The user does not have to exchange batteries in a cumbersome way and never has