Management IQ Consumers Still Going Green

Looking for new ways to grow? In this environment, many companies are trying to find some kind of new way to grab the interest of spending-wary consumers. Boston Consulting Group believes that move might be going green.
In a survey of 9,000 consumersin North America, Europe, China, and Japan, the consulting firm found that despite the slumping economy, more shoppers sought out green products in 2008 than in 2007. Some 34 percent of Europeans (up 2 percent from 2007) said they would continue to systematically look for green products. And in a similar study of 1,040 consumers in the United States in January, some 32 percent said they still seek out and often purchase green products.
There’s no telling whether that trend will hold as the economy worsens and more consumers lose jobs, making that organic, fair-trade, recycled product potentially a little more difficult to buy. (While not always more expensive, the economics of eco-merchandise often tends to drive prices up.)
If you’re going to make a bet on such products, make sure consumers can find them. BCG reports that one big complaint from consumers in the survey regarded how organic supermarket goods are placed in what they call the “green ghetto.” Rather than place a limited assortment of organic products in a low-traffic location, the consumers complained, mix them in with other products and make them easy to find.