First Steps to Greening Your Existing Business
Guest Post: Several months ago, Jennifer Kaplan contacted me to ask for more details about a post I had made about consumer attitudes toward green products. She teaches a market research course at Marymount University in Arlington, VA and is a partner in the marketing consultancy, Greenhance LLC. In the following post, Jennifer reports back on a project that demonstrates where to begin when considering any change to your business, with research. — Leah
To Green Or Not To Green: That Was The Question
There are 26.4 million small businesses in the United States. This is a story about one of them. Mary Hutchens, owner of a children’s clothing boutique in Washington, DC, was thinking about going green but didn’t know where to start. Mary, like many small business owners, was interested in going green for all kinds of reasons—to control skyrocketing energy costs, to meet customer expectations, to be on the leading edge, to promote sustainability. However, Mary worried that her older customers, the “grandmas,” would revolt against fewer gift boxes and organic onesies. Like many small business owners, Mary had a lot of questions about going green and didn’t know where to find the answers.
At the same time, I was looking for a “real life” project for my undergraduate Marketing Research class. What better way to teach the students about the real world of marketing then to act as a consultant to a real life small business owner? What happened over the following four months shed light on both what consumers want AND what small business owners want when it comes to going green.
At the beginning Mary simply wanted to know specifics about gift-wrapping and shopping bag preferences. The students just wanted to know how consumers felt about going green. It was my job to make everyone see the macro and micro environmental issues at play. As such, I wanted to make sure we also determined whether purchase intent would be affected by a move toward green and which green practices would resonate most with consumers.
After much back and forth, we all agreed upon the objectives of the survey: to determine whether or not to go green, and if so, what would be the best businesses practices to adopt in doing so. The 15-question survey was answered by 20 current and prospective consumers (although a small sample, it represents her customer base reasonably well) and addressed respondent attitudes toward the environment, green business practices and consumer behavior. We found that:
• The vast majority (95%) of respondents agreed with the statements: “Being environmentally conscious is part of my day to day life” and “I prefer to purchase products that are environmentally friendly.”
• A majority (85%) of respondents agreed with the statement: “I prefer to patronize businesses that are environmentally friendly.”
• Most respondents were able to confirm (from a list) which specific green business practices would have an “extremely positive” effect on their likelihood to patronize a particular business.
• The majority of respondents were receptive to practices that reduce the waste and materials typically associated with gift-wrapping and shopping bags. For example, 100% found it acceptable to receive environmentally friendly gift-wrap and ribbon with their purchases in lieu of a gift box.
• Consistent with other surveys, the majority of respondents reported being willing to pay more for “green” products.
As far as the grandmas go, Mary appears to have little to worry about with her particular customer base. Although grandparents and older respondents were slightly less positive about whether green factors would directly affect their likelihood to patronize, they were generally amenable to buying, paying and sacrificing for green.
We all know that simply because someone reports that they will be moved to patronize a business because they use recycled gift-wrap or pledge to recycle, doesn’t mean they actually will. On the other hand, Mary Hutchens would never have known what her customers purport to want had she not asked. Mary now has to ask herself whether she is willing to listen to them and take a leap of faith that they know what they want. They have told her they want some things she is comfortable with doing (eliminating gift boxes) as well as some things that she’s not so much (start recycling). Only time and the changing of her business practices will yield the answer to her question.
The complete results of the survey can be seen here.
Photo of Mary Hutchens’ store by Jennifer Kaplan.
I think going green is something that everyone can agree is a step in the right direction toward building a better community, and laying down the foundations for which future generations can successfully thrive in a healthier environment. Plus, I think many businesses will benefit from going green, not only building a more acceptable public persona, but in the long run it really helps companies save money and be a positive contributor to the world we live in.
Another thing I want to talk about is bioheat, it’s just one small measure that people can take in order to start living a greener lifestyle.
Has anyone ever heard of it, or has switched to it? I want to start taking initiative in turning my home into a greener household, one way I have started is by switching out all my lightbulbs in my home to energy efficient lightbulbs. And I am also seriously considering switching over to bioheat as an alternative to regular oilheat. The thing that I love the most about it is that it’s completely clean burning, and is comprised of a b5 blend of oils which are derived from natural plant and vegetable sustainable resources such as corn, hemp, and avocados just to name a few. If you all want more information on how bioheat works, just go on to http://oilheatamerica.com/index.mv?screen=bioheat I work with NORA to bring this info to you all!
Leah and Jennifer,
I applaud your efforts - my comment is meant to be complementary as well as complimentary!
The focus of the survey is on the purchase of “Green” goods. What we emphasize at Green Asset Disposal (http://www.greenassetdisposal.com) is the proper, environmentally friendly disposal of computer hardware past its prime! When disposed of improperly, it is a major source of toxicity for our ecosystem. So, when your business refreshes its computer systems, please make a “Green” plan for the disposal of the retired assets. We are one of many companies that can perform this function (obviously we think we are the best if not the greenest!).
If you are looking for green office standards for non-manufacturing companies, you might check out: http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/TurnLeaf
Todd-
Excellent point. End-of-life asset disposal is an essential part of a green IT program as well as being a sound waste minimization practice. It is something we discuss with all our clients, but is clearly an area that could and should receive more attention. By the way, although it was not obvious from the post, we did in fact ask customers about a whole range of green activities that could be employed and and how each would effect their likelihood to patronize a business assuming they knew of it? The list was long and included the following practices:
• Offer Green Employee Benefits
• Donate to Green Causes or Green Offset Ventures
• Use Green Marketing Tactics (media choices, advertising, etc…)
• Use Green Information Technology (energy efficient PCs, power management tactics, etc…)
• Use Green Communications (signs communicating Green efforts, newsletters about Green topics, etc…)
• Use Green Business Travel/Transportation (delivery trucks, etc…)
• Purchase Environmentally Preferable Materials/Supplies (office supplies, etc…)
• Offer Environmentally Preferable Products for Sale
• Use Green Materials (gift wrap, shopping bags, etc…)
• Control or Minimize Waste Generation and Pollution (recycle, reuse, etc…)
• Conserve Energy (use energy efficient equipment, use CFL bulbs, etc…)
We should have added a question about asset disposal! Unfortunately, green asset disposal does not seem to be high on the consumer or small business radar screen. Dialogues like this are crucial. Thanks for bringing it up!
Jennifer
Fantastic, I find it important for everyone to get involved and not just the government or the big companies the are being pushed to the green path.
I think we should encourage small and medium sized companies to see this responsible path as the best way of growing, and not just to obey policies.
The market is responsible for the environment since it profits from natural resources. The market can be changed from inside, we can do it, we must.
Let´s grow green
Daniel - You are so right!
All businesses, no matter what size or industry, use power. And many small business owners wonder how they can possibly play a role in managing climate change. They often think that since they are not in a business that actually produces greenhouse emissions that their individual impact is minuscule, possibly immeasurably small. But the reality is that, in aggregate, the total climate-related impact of the 26.4 million small businesses adds up. Many small businesses need to be informed that - without question - their businesses have an indirect impact on the climate and that the electricity, heating, cooling and transportation and other services they use all translate into CO2 output with global warming impact.
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