An Understanding of Green Marketing

INTRODUCTION

Modern era is the era of globalization. Customer is the king of market. Main challenge before the business is to make the customer happy. The biggest need of time is to keep our natural environment safe. Consumer is also aware about environment issue such as global warming and the impact of environmental pollution. Green marketing is a buzzword which is emerged as an important concept in India. It is an important strategy for facilitating sustainable development. Green Business is that business whose main objective is to save the environment. These businesses produce goods that are less harmful for the environment. For example green product are CFLs (Compact Fluorescent LAMPS) which consumes 75% LESS ENERGY than ordinary incandescent ones. Organic foods are produced without antibiotics and pesticides. In present, society becomes more concerned with the natural environment so businesses have begun to modify their behavior. They have accepted the concept like environmental management systems and waste minimization and have included this environmental issue into their organizational activities. A majority of people think that green marketing means the promotions or advertising of products with environmental characteristics. But this is the narrow concept of green marketing. Green marketing is a much broader concept which applies on consumer goods, industrial goods and even services. For example, around the world there are many resorts that are beginning to promote themselves as ―ecotourism‖ facilities, i.e. operating in manner that minimizes their environmental impact. Green marketing is the marketing of products which are assumed to be safe for environment. They are assumed to be safe for environment. They are no harmful or even less harmful for the environment. Green marketing includes a broad range of activities such as product modification change in production process change in packaging as well as change in advertising. Green marketing is a holistic marketing concept in which production, sale, consumption and disposal of products and services occurs in a manner that is less harmful to the environment. Yet the green marketing appears to be expensive in the short run, but it will prove to be advantageous in the long run. Everyone seems to love nature. Our mother earth is suffering from environmental issues. Our government is also thinking about environmental protection at priority level. The companies are willfully or legally forced to adopt the policies to safe guard the environment and serve the society. Green marketing concept helps in eliminating the wastes, save time and save money as the usage of natural renewable resources are cheaper in comparison to the use of other pollution making sources and ultimately leading to a healthy universe. Green marketing offers business bottom line incentives and top line growth possibilities. While modification of business or production processes may involve start-up costs, it will save

and improved products and services with environmental impacts in mind give themselves access to new markets, substantially increase profits and enjoy competitive advantages over those marketing non environmentally responsible alternatives.

1. Digital tickets by Indian Railways 2. Lead free paint from Kansai Nerolac 3. Wipro‘s Green Machines 4. Eco-friendly Rickshaws 5. Surf-Excel detergent which saves water 6. Energy-saving L.G. Product

1. Amul 2. Dabur India Ltd. 3. Infosys 4. Taj Hotel 5. Britainia Industries ltd. 6. Suzlon India 7. Hindustan Unilever ltd. 8. Wipro technologies ltd. 9. Maruti Udyog ltd. 10. Godrej consumer products

Like traditional marketing green marketing also suggests four p‘s of marketing 1) Green Product 2) Green Price 3) Green Place 4) Green Promotion Green Product: A producer should offer 1. Product that is environmentally safe 4. Products which save water, energy, save money. 5. Product with environmentally responsible packaging.

1. It is the main crucial element of marketing mix. 2. Prices for such products may be little higher than conventional alternatives. 3. Customers are prepared to pay a premium if there is a perception of additional product value. 4. Environmentally responsible products, however, are often less expensive when product life cycle costs are taken into consideration.

1. Where and when a product is available has an important impact on the choice of customer. 2. Very small customers go out to buy green products. 3. For successfully introducing new green products marketers should position them in the market place. 4. They have to achieve this by in-store promotions and visually appealing displays or using recycled material to emphasize the environmental benefits.

Green promotion involves configuring the tools of promotion, such as advertising, marketing materials, signage, white papers, web sites, videos and presentations by keeping people, planet and profits in mind. For example: Indian Tobacco Company has introduced environmental-friendly papers and boards, which are free of elemental chlorine.

This paper is mainly theoretical in nature. For this purpose secondary data is collected. In this regard

• To understand the concept of green marketing. • To know the 4p‘s of marketing mix. • To know the importance of going green. • To understand why firms are adopting green marketing. • To know the problems of becoming green. • To give some suggestions.

Dr. Bhagwan Singh et. al. (2015) in this paper discuss that the companies are willfully or legally forced to adopt the policies to safeguard the environment and serve the society. This paper provides a concise framework of what green marketing is? This study beneficial to those people who are thinking to buy the green and environmentally friendly products in North India. They conclude that most of the respondents in North India are familiar with green marketing. Sumita kukeraja et. al. (2014) in this paper explain the importance of green marketing. They also explain the hurdles with green marketing. They concluded that there is a long road ahead in front of green marketing to achieve its objectives and to make all the products eco-friendly. Green marketing is still in the age of childhood for the Indian companies.

Ms. Priti Aggarwal (2013) in her paper discusses how businesses have increased their rate of targeting green consumers, those who are concerned about the environment and allow it to affect their purchasing decision. She identifies three particular segments of green consumers. She describes the reason why company are adopting green marketing and concludes that green marketing is something that will continuously grow in both practice and demand. Hemantha Y. in the paper Green Marketing-An Explorative Research on consumers in Bangalore society‘s new issue. He explained that a company should not forget attitude of consumers toward green marketing. He conducted this study in Bangalore city and found that consumers are very aware towards green branding and their attitude towards is also high.

The population of India is increasing at a very fast rate. The Global Warming is increasing day by day, pollution levels are also rising high. Besides these Non-Renewable sources of energy and other natural resources are consuming at a very fast rate, which may or may not renewed in the near or long future. So it is impossible to expect a similar life in future as it is in present. The future is seen in darkness. It will be worse than this. For a better present and for saving the future the only option is to save the mother earth. It means to adopt the concept of green marketing. It helps in saving the environment from various harmful effects. It focuses on those marketing activities which carefully use these resources and are less harmful or even no harmful for the environment.

Opportunity:- Firms are considering Green Marketing as an opportunity. Today consumers are aware about the environment. They prefer eco-friendly products. Many firms are realizing a competitive advantage over firms marketing non-environmentally responsible product by marketing product with environment characteristics. There are a lot of examples of firms who have strived to become more environmentally responsible, in an attempt to better satisfy their consumer needs. For example Surf Excel detergent saves water and L.G. consumer products save energy. Social Responsibility:- Business firms are the part of society. Many business firms understand this concept. They have started realizing that they must behave in an environment-friendly fashion and believe both in achieving environmental objectives as well as profits related objectives. As a result, they are integrating environmental issues into the firm‘s corporate culture. Government pressure:- Various regulations are made by the government to protect consumers and the environment from the harmful product. For example, the ban of plastic bags, prohibition of smoking in public areas, etc. Competitive Pressure:- Every firms wants to maintain its competitive position. Competition is the

Cost or Profit Issue:- Firms are using Green marketing concept to solve cost or profit issue. Disposing of environmentally harmful by-products are becoming costly and in some cases it is very difficult. Therefore firms are developing more effecting production process that not only reduce waste but also reduce the need of some raw material. This help in as double cost savings. Change in customer attitude:- Customer attitude is changing now. They are showing more concern about environment. As a result firms are adopting Green Marketing concept.

The concept of Green Marketing focuses on marketing activities which are safe for the environment, however it faces some problems. These problems are discusses as under: New concept :- Green Marketing is a new concept. Only Indian Literate and urban people are knowing about this concept. It takes time to accept by the people. There is a urgent need to create understanding about this concept. Lack of standards:-There is a lack of standard to measure the accuracy of messages from green campaigns. It dampens the long term benefits of green marketing. Not Willing:- Majority of the consumers are not willing to buy these products because they are not willing to pay a premium for green products. Huge Investment in research and development:- Green Marketing requires technology which requires huge investment in research and development process. Water treatment technology is also very costly. Costly:- Green marketing requires renewable and recyclable material, which is very costly.

There are some suggestions that can be taken to increase the practices of green marketing: 1. The use of pesticide and chemical fertilizers in crops should be minimize. 2. Forests are the valuable assets of every country that are gifted by nature, so it is necessary for government to protect these natural resource. 4. Use modern technologies to conserve the natural resources. 5. Manufacture more energy efficient products. 6. Make those products which are safe for disposal. 7. The packaging of the product should be reusable. 8. Communication should be in the form of electronics such as email. It reduces the wastage of paper. 9. Customer should be educated about the green marketing benefits.

Green Marketing is a new concept in India. It takes much time to be accepted by the people. Only literate and urban consumers know this concept. There is a lack of awareness among Indian consumers about the benefits of Green Products. It is a tool for saving the environment. Green Products are the products which are safe for the environment and which are produce from the recycled goods. Green products can be reused or recycled. It also involves environmentally responsible packaging. The environmental problems in India are increasing day by day. So it is the right time to implement the Green Marketing in India. Green Marketing processes are safe or even less harmful for the environment. But a lot of patience is required to make it successful. Because Green marketing is seems to be costly in the short run, but it is advantageous in the long run.

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