1
New Study Shows Energy Savings is Key for Consumers Considering Green Electronics
GreenFactor, an ongoing global technology and environmental research initiative, finds that consumers are getting more savvy about green and are demanding that electronics brands provide more clear information about their products’ energy savings, as well as sustainable materials, and shipping and production methods. The GreenFactor survey was conducted by Strategic Oxygen and Cohn & Wolfe during Sept. and Oct. 2008.
The primary findings of the survey of more than 10,000 adults in 12 major markets around the world include:
- “Saving energy” ranks first in importance to U.S. consumers considering green electronics (54 percent); “design” (5 percent) is near the bottom of the list of attributes and “image” (4 percent) is dead last.
- The number one barrier to green sales of consumer electronics in the U.S. is “lack of awareness” (53 percent) – that is, brands are not adequately educating consumers on the energy savings and other environmentally-friendly aspects of their products. The number two barrier to purchase is “price” (45 percent).
- Consumers say they rely heavily on information on a product’s “packaging” (33 percent), a “brand’s web site” (32 percent), and “independent brand comments online” (28 percent) rather than seeking green product input from “friends / peers” (13 percent).
- Consumers still are reticent to pay premiums for green gadgets: 57 percent say they do not expect to pay premiums and are not willing to pay. Only 15 percent of consumers say they are expecting premiums and are willing to pay.
“We’re seeing green trends globally, and it’s shocking how consistent consumer needs are worldwide for information about green electronics,” said Michael Gale, CEO of Strategic Oxygen. “There is a global green ethos emerging with global definitions for how consumers see green. This is one of the few worldwide trends Strategic Oxygen research reveals for marketing as a whole.”
Green Brand Leaders
According to the GreenFactor research, only a few brands have achieved global green recognition. Consumer perception of brands’ green leadership varies by region. For example, consumers in the United States have completely different ideas about green electronics than those in Japan. Dell, Apple, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard are identified as green leaders in the U.S. Japanese consumers prefer Japanese companies and say Panasonic, Sharp, Sony and NEC are leading green.
To understand “perception vs. reality,” GreenFactor cross-tabulated its findings against Greenpeace’s “Guide to Greener Electronics” which ranks the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TVs and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change.
This cross-tabulation reveals that the brands most associated with green do not necessarily adhere to the most green practices as defined by Greenpeace, in the case of Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple and Microsoft. In contrast, some brands, like Samsung and Nokia, are not getting credit with consumers for their green realities.
“When we compare GreenFactor results with Greenpeace’s assessments of consumer electronics brands it becomes glaringly obvious that many brands have consumers believing they’re investing much more into their green programs than is true,” said Gale. “Some companies, like Nokia, have an opportunity to better communicate their green initiatives to earn a higher spot on the perception scale.”
Green Priorities by Technology
GreenFactor research reveals consumer priorities for purchasing green electronics:
- The green-ness of High Definition Televisions (64 percent), Desktops (64 percent), Notebooks (63 percent) and Printers (60 percent) is very or somewhat important to consumers.
- Consumers are less interested in purchasing smaller green electronics, which may be perceived as consuming less energy to use and produce. GPS (51 percent), Digital Cameras (53 percent) and Media Players (53 percent) are at the bottom of the list of green priorities.
Green Barriers
When asked “What are the biggest barriers to adopting a green approach when buying electronics products?” consumers were fairly consistent worldwide. The top barriers were:
- Lack of awareness (53 percent)
- Price (45 percent)
- Lack of availability (20 percent)
- Do not understand the product’s capacity to save energy (13 percent)
Product design ranked at the bottom of both green barriers and priorities, demonstrating that for the consumers who say green buying is important, marketers should focus on making a product’s financial return on investment easy to understand. Otherwise, brands may risk accusations of greenwashing by making a less-green product look like one.
Green Communication
GreenFactor reveals sophisticated consumer evaluation and comprehension of brands’ environmental initiatives:
- Information on a product’s packaging (33 percent) is twice as important as a product’s design (12 percent) to consumers assessing technology green-ness.
- Brand web sites are twice as important (32 percent) to consumers as a source of information for a product’s green-ness than their friends / peers (13 percent).
- Important to brands’ prioritization of marketing resources, 54 percent of 25-34 year-olds say they are willing to pay more for green technology, while 23 percent of those 65 and older say a green electronics approach is not important to them.
“Technology companies have a significant opportunity to establish leadership as innovative and sustainable companies, and many of them are rising to the occasion,” said Annie Longsworth, Global Sustainability Practice Leader for Cohn & Wolfe. “Our research clearly shows, however, that there’s a disconnect between what drives consumer purchase and loyalty, and what consumer electronics brands are prioritizing and communicating.”
One Response to “New Study Shows Energy Savings is Key for Consumers Considering Green Electronics”
Leave a Reply
[...] original here: New Study Shows Energy Savings is Key for Consumers Considering Green Electronics Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]