Green Consumers Still Willing to Pay More for Natural and Organic Products

Despite a tough economic outlook, green consumers are willing to pay more for green and environmentally friendly products in 2008, according to a recent MamboTrack study by Mambo Sprouts Marketing, Retailer Daily writes.

Some 1,000 natural-product consumers were surveyed and forecast their expected purchases for the coming year.

Among the survey findings:

• Most natural consumers said they would pay more for environmentally friendly products: 7 in 10 said they would be willing to pay up to 20% more. Only one in 10 respondents said they were unwilling to pay extra for green products and services.
• Moreover, consumers aren’t just scrutinizing the products they buy, but want to support businesses and retail stores that have green sustainable practices: More than 7 in 10 said it was important (41%) or very important (32%) to do business with companies that were environmentally responsible.
• For the coming year, while price was the overriding factor (60%) in their decision of where to shop, half of green consumers also identified the selection of healthy organic products (56%) and availability of organic produce (49%) as key factors as well.
• Regarding grocery spending in particular:
  • Natural-category consumers said they were most likely to choose organic options for produce (60%), dairy products (54%) and child/baby food products (50%).
  • Only one in four or fewer felt it was very important to buy organic in the categories of beer and wine (10%), pet food (23%) and desserts and snacks (23%).
  • Natural and organic consumers plan to increase their use of environmentally friendly grocery bags, with 63% expected to increase their use of these green reusable bags and 62% expected to decrease their use of disposable plastic bags in 2008.
• Green restaurants, hybrid electric cars, eco-clothing and eco-travel/vacations are among the earth-friendly products and services prospect consumers are targeting for 2008:
  • About 7 in 10 or more natural and organic product consumers already use energy saving light bulbs (77%), recycled paper (69%), environmentally friendly cleaning supplies (68%) and energy efficient appliances (64%).
  • Six in ten respondents indicated significant interest in expanding their earth-friendly practices by dining at “green” or eco-friendly restaurants (64%), buying a hybrid/electric car (61%), eco-friendly travel and vacations (60%) and buying clothing made from earth-friendly materials such as organic cotton, bamboo and hemp (61%).

About the data: Results are from Mambo Sprouts’ MamboTrack online survey taken between December 11 and December 14, 2007, with 1,000 natural and organic product consumers responding.