Green Products Grow Greenbacks Fast!
One of the areas that importers and exporters are always focusing on is on how to increase revenue. Most large corporations will tell you that for any notable revenue growth to take place on their P&L statements, it is necessary to continue to refine and add new product lines.
As the saying goes in business, “…tried and true products pay the bills but new products grow the profits!” For that reason, business owners are constantly on the lookout for new and innovative products to bring to market.
Ideally, these entrepreneurs are in search of new, unique and highly desirable products that have minimal costs associated with them but support high margins at the consumer-purchasing end of the process. Of course, if an exclusive can be carved out regarding the product….all the better!
One of the most notable areas of product innovation and growth in the consumer retail vertical has been with bio-friendly or “green” products. These types of products are in high-demand for a variety of reasons.
Give us green!
As one may imagine, if you can get the general media, education centers and influencers to constantly explain why using “green” products are important for us individually, collectively as well as for the environment…then your marketing costs can be greatly mitigated when selling bio-friendly or environmentally friendly products.
In fact, 72% of consumers now claim to feel “pressured” into buying “green” products, even if they cost substantially more than alternative products. Even products that claim to be “green” or eco-friendly yet are unable to provide substantiating documentation from independent sources are chosen over similar products which do not make such dubious claims.
Market Research Direct, Inc., a leading market research company has uncovered that by simply using “green” sounding terms and verbiage (substantiated or not) targeted consumers will pay up to 18% more for that product over similar performing products not using such “green” sounding terms.
Eco-Marketing
Inc. Magazine research discovered that ninety-five percent of consumer products claiming to be “green” over the past year were in some way vague, deceptive or misleading. That data was correlated by the marketing company TerraChoice, which also found a 73% increase in so called environmentally friendly products on the market over the past twelve months.
Since these “green” products are now more popular than ever, more businesses are introducing new eco-friendly products and even relabeling old products to appear “green.” If you are considering updating your products to be more “green” appealing, there are certain concepts you should keep in mind.
- Be Specific. The FTC has now published guidelines called the Green Guides for businesses making environmental benefit claims. These guidelines are designed to discourage companies from using terms like “Earth-smart,” or “nature-approved,” which are not supported by scientific evidence.
- Use provable and simple terminology on your packaging. Conventional wisdom dictates that the easier eco-friendly terminology is to understand by laypersons, the more likely the claims are provable and true. Overly complicated terms and verbiage used to explain products “green” performance generally turns customers off as the claims are more likely to be considered “bogus.”
- Consider independent certifications or claims endorsements. Many companies will now apply third-party approvals and/or endorsements regarding a products “green” gravitas. Having an applied approval or logo from Green Seal or the Chlorine Free Products Association as an example, can easily provide more effective (and honest) claims confirmation.
- Be transparent. Market research indicates that consumers want transparency when it comes to green-claims made by product representatives. If the products green-claims are accurate, make that data available for review on your website. It doesn’t mean that every customer will read the data, but, it does mean that every customer will feel better knowing you were willing to provide it.
Eco-Option Sales…
If your company is looking to expand its profit stream, then consider the following concept. The old business model was that a company needed to import or manufacture new products to sell on their digital marketplace. The new model is that it may not be necessary to import or manufacture new products….but only green alternatives to established brands!
As an example, why import a new super efficient clothing detergent when the market may already have a hundred versions you would have to compete with, when you could sell a eco-friendly, chlorine-free, hypo-allergenic, all natural product….that could sell for at least 18% more than competitor products already saturating the market?
Perhaps now is the time to expand your market and increase your margins by simply capitalizing on the fastest growing product trend on the internet today. The old business adage used to be, “Go Big or Go Home,” now the more appropriate motto could be, “Go Green or Go Broke!”
