Consumer Perception and Green Marketing Impression On FMCG Sector-An Empirical Study in Krishnagiri District, Tamilnadu S.Syed Ahamed Dr.A.Ravi
Consumer Perception and Green Marketing Impression On FMCG Sector-An Empirical Study in Krishnagiri District, Tamilnadu S.Syed Ahamed Dr.A.Ravi
Consumer Perception and Green Marketing Impression On FMCG Sector-An Empirical Study in Krishnagiri District, Tamilnadu S.Syed Ahamed Dr.A.Ravi
ISSN - 2249-555X
Commerce
Research Paper
To investigate the consumer attractiveness towards ecofriendly products in FMCG sector and their impact of purchasing decision.
To evaluate consumer attitudes and perception regarding
eco-friendly FMCG products under four value-added areas such as product, package, place and promotion that
lead towards the motivation of consumption.
LITERATURE REVIEW
While green marketing came into prominence in the late
1980s and early 1990s, it was first discussed much earlier.
The American Marketing Association (AMA) held the first
workshop on Ecological Marketing in 1975. The proceedings of this workshop resulted in one of the first books on
green marketing entitled Ecological Marketing (Henion and
Kinnear 1976a). Since that time a number of other books on
the topic have been published (Coddington 1993, and Ottman 1993). Green marketing incorporates a broad range of
activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying
advertising. (Polonsky, 1994) World-wide evidence indicates
people are concerned about the environment and are changing their behavior accordingly. As a result there is a growing
market for sustainable and socially responsible products and
services. (Environmental protection agency -2000) Green
consumerism is often discussed as a form of pro-social
consumer behavior (Wiener and Doesher, 1991). Hopes for
green products also have been hurt by the perception that
such products are of lower quality or dont really deliver on
their environmental promises. And yet the news isnt all bad,
as the growing number of people willing to pay a premium
for green products from organic foods to energy-efficient
appliances attests. (DSouza et al. 2004)Green or Environmental Marketing consists of all activities designed to generate and facilitate any exchanges intended to satisfy human
needs or wants, such that the satisfaction of these needs and
wants occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the natural
environment.
Owing to the conceptual and moral complexity of ecologically responsible consumer behavior and to the perplexity
of ecological information, different consumers have different conceptions of ecologically oriented consumer behavior
and, thus, myriad ways of acting out their primary motivation
for being green consumers (Antil, 1984). These innovations
arent being pursued simply to reduce package waste. (Prothero, 1990) Food manufacturers also want to improve food
preservation to enhance the taste and freshness of their products. The cost of the foods would be lower; consumers could
enjoy the convenience of pre-sliced ingredients, and waste
peelings (Prothero, 1990). It can be assumed that firms marketing goods with environmental characteristics will have a
competitive advantage over firms marketing non-environmentally responsible alternatives. There are numerous examples
of firms who have strived to become more environmentally
responsible, in an attempt to better satisfy their consumer
needs. (Schwepker, and Cornwell, 1991) While governmental
regulation is designed to give consumers the opportunity to
make better decisions or to motivate them to be more environmentally responsible, there is difficulty in establishing policies
that will address all environmental issues. (Schwepker, and
Cornwell, 1991). Hence, environment-friendly consumption
may be characterized as highly a complex form of consumer
behavior, both intellectually and morally as well as in practice.
CONCEPTUALIZATION
In conceptualizing the study, researchers have attempted to
build relationship between key variables of green marketing
i.e., product, package, distribution and promotion (independent variables) and customer buying decision (dependent
variable). Those relationships can be varied according to the
demographic variables. Therefore demographic factors were
considered as intervene variable of the conceptual framework.
Figure 01. Conceptual Model
ISSN - 2249-555X
Number of Respondents
62
52
46
160
According to the literature and pilot study in Hosur supermarkets, researchers recognized that marketers can use different
tools relating to independent variables in order to determine
the effectiveness of green marketing practices. It is also necessary to examine the relationship between two key variables
and other variables influenced on dependent variable. This
would enable the researchers to interpret the findings in a
more comprehensive manner. The conceptual model that has
been developed indicating their relationship (Figure 01)
METHODOLOGY
As a matter of fact, this study is almost an empirical one. So,
as far as possible and attempt was made to gather primary
data. In that context, a detailed questionnaire was administrated. Meanwhile personal interviews and observations
were also made. In order to ensure an acceptable number
of responses, a convenience sample was used. Data were
collected through the self administrated questionnaires by
the researchers them selves and trained field assistants.
Researcher selected the sample using combination of convenience and simple random sampling method. Secondary
data were collected by website published articles, newspapers, relevant journals etc. The sample was employed 160
respondents from Krishnagiri District, Tamilnadu. Respondent
category comprised with College students, academic staffs,
office workers, housewives, business people and managers
of several companies those who have much exposure to the
FMCG category and who represent the Krishnagiri customers. The sample size is also enough to generalize findings to
the Krishnagiri District context.
As per the study, in the above table variables classified independent variables into variable 1 category and dependant variable purchase decision into variable-2.The above
analysis clearly shows that environment friendly products and
packages make the significant impact of customer buying decisions. The marketing communication with the environment
friendly product information will also significantly impact on
the buying decisions.
Comparisons of Means of elements of green marketing
against the demography
This study focused on the green marketing strategy and
consumer buying decisions. The main objective of this study
was to examine the influence emerged from green marketing
strategy for consumers buying decisions of FMCG sector in
Krishnagiri. The finding shows that influence emerged from
green marketing strategies on consumers buying decisions
is strong. The mean value of green marketing elements is
23.25. It is represented in strongly influenced score category
(22-30). Mode and median values are 24.00 and 23.80 respectively (See Annexure 02).
Customer attractiveness for green marketing elements
Based on Demographic Variables.
Another important finding was that all variables of green marketing elements are having more responses for the all age
categories, gender, and education levels. That means except any demographic difference, customers are considering
green marketing as the important factor in their store choice
decisions.
The findings show that both 18 30 and 31 -50-aged customers highly consider eco-friendly packaging as the most
important variable in their buying decisions of each product
categories. However, 32 of 18 30 aged customers selected
eco friendly package as the most important variable and 16
customers have selected green promotion as main variable.
In addition, only 04 respondents have indicated that they
ISSN - 2249-555X