The Role of Green Business
Published: 13th Nov 2008 in Ethical Business
When Jez and I set up Make Hay we had two clear aims in mind. One was to do business our own (ethical) way and the other was to try to play some part in encouraging consumers to think about where they spend their hard-earned cash. Even a small business can be influential in helping consumers choose green and ethical products and services but simply existing as a green or ethical business isn’t enough.
There are many reasons why a consumer would choose a particular product over another and if we want consumers to make green choices then businesses have a very definite role to play.
I read a really fascinating report sent to me via the Floov newsletter which addressed this issue. According to the McKinsey article, called ‘Helping Green Products Grow‘, most consumers do have concerns about climate change and how their buying behaviour contributes to it but there is a definite gap between those concerns and consumer habits.
The article talks about the 5 barriers to buying green and how to break those down. They are:
- Educate consumers
- Build better products
- Be honest
- Offer more
- Bring the products to the people
Some very valuable marketing advice here…