Explain the meaning of green marketing.
Green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. It incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, sustainable packaging as well as modifying advertising.
It simply consists of marketing goods and services based on factors or awareness. Organisations involved in green marketing make decisions relating to the entire process of the organisation’s products like methods of processing, packaging and distribution.
It simply means the process of selling products or services based on their environmental benefits. Such a good or service may be environmentally friendly in itself or produced in an environmentally friendly way.
Green marketing is the marketing of environmentally friendly products and services. It is becoming more popular as more people are now concerned with environmental issues and decide that they want to spend their money in a way that is friendly to the planet.
Green marketing is becoming popular because of the following reasons:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(i) Opportunities – Business firms perceive green marketing to be the opportunity that can be used to achieve their objectives, for example – Xerox introduced a quality recycled photocopier in order to satisfy the demand for less environmentally harmful products.
(ii) Social responsibility – Environmental issues are being integrated into the corporate culture.
(iii) Government pressure – Regulations are being made so as to control hazardous waste produced by industry, trying to make business firms more responsible towards environment.
(iv) Competitive advantage – Firms can create a brand image for being environmental friendly and have a competitive edge over others.
(v) Cost factor – Firms also use green marketing to reduce costs. For becoming environment friendly, they need to shift towards superior technology which is quicker and better.
(vi) Cost Saving – Firms save a lot of money by green marketing effort, for example, huge departmental stores and supermarkets have stopped giving polybags as a part of green marketing initiatives and thus saving a lot.
Green Marketing focuses on the following issues:
(i) Eliminate the concept of waste – Waste and pollution arises usually from inefficiency. Thus instead of dealing with waste, try avoiding wastage of products.
(ii) Reinvest the concept of product – Products should be either consumables, which should either be consumed by the consumer or recycled by him, or they should be durables which after utilization should be returned to the manufacturer for recycling.
(iii) Make price reflect the cost – Every product should have a cost inclusive of the cost of air, water and soil apart from the direct cost of production.
(iv) Making environmentalism profitable – Companies can create their USP by encashing their environment friendly attitude.
