6th International Conference on “Economic Growth and Sustainable Development:

Emerging Trends November 25-26, 2021, Mysuru, India

Green Marketing a Way to Sustainable Development

Dr. Lalitha Balakrishnan

Principal, M.O.P.
Vaishnav College for Women,
(Autonomous) Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Ms. Nisha M
Assistant Professor
Department of Commerce
M.O.P Vaishnav College for Women
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Abstract
In the recent times, societies have become more concerned with natural environment and increasingly
conscious about eco-friendly products or green products and about their own safety and welfare which
has led to the emergence of green practices, and it is in this scenario, that the concept of green marketing
has gained worldwide significance. As resources are limited and human wants are unlimited it is important
for the marketers to utilize the resources efficiently without waste as well as to achieve organisations
objectives. So green marketing is inevitable. There is a growing interest among consumers all over the
world regarding protection of environment. Worldwide evidence indicates people are concerned about
the environment and are changing their behaviour. As a result, green marketing has emerged which
speaks for growing market for sustainable and socially responsible products and services.

This paper describes the current scenario of Indian market and explores the opportunities and challenge
businesses have with green marketing. The paper also finds out how green marketing strategies have
become sustainable tool for business of tomorrow especially in Indian context.

Keywords : Green marketing, sustainability, Environmentally Safe, eco-friendly products.

Introduction
It is evident that today we are facing with the problem of meeting our unlimited needs with the available
limited resources. Year by year, as the resources get depleted, there arises the concern on how our needs
will be met with such depleting resources. To prevent complete erosion of the available resources, several
companies have initiated with the concept of Green Marketing. Through Green Marketing, companies are
coming up with alternative and sustainable resources that can provide the same results if the actual
Natural Resources are put to use. As much as Green Marketing is concerned, the primary objective is to
produce products and services that are environment friendly. To ensure a sustainable development for
the upcoming generations, it is imperative for us to use the resources judiciously hence, many alternative
resources and technologies are innovated for a sustainable growth and development of our country.

Green Marketing and Sustainable Development are linked together because production in environment
friendly manner, recycling of products to avoid unnecessary dumping of one-time use materials, thereby
reducing pollution associated, using bio-degradable materials for packaging and re-usable packages, and

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replacing non-degradable plastics with bio-degradable ones not only protect environment but also leads
to sustainable development. As sustainable development means satisfying needs without destroying the
benefits of future, green marketing has to change the classical marketing concept in order to contribute
to it. This change must include product modification, changes in the production process, packaging, and
promotion. The focus is a green product that does not contain harmful components and does not pollute
the environment.

The green marketing concept implies that businesses find a way to reuse the surplus that remains from
production. Accordingly, limited resources are saved. Green products are different from traditional ones
because they are produced from materials that do not pollute the environment and are healthier for
consumers. The prices of green products are, as a rule, higher because they have to cover the costs of the
environment. On the other hand, they must not be at a level that is unacceptable to consumers. Therefore,
companies should define prices that would meet both criteria. Companies using the concept of green
marketing should demonstrate that this can also make them profitable, but that the profit is not the only
goal of their business.

Green Marketing is no longer considered as mere Corporate Social Responsibility activity but it is slowly
becoming the new normal of shifting from traditional marketing in several companies. To highlight the
practise of Green Marketing in companies, it can be seen that Wipro and Infosys’s are going green Wipro
launched desktops, laptops are known as Wipro green wares. It was the first company in India who
developed eco-sustainability in the form of energy, water efficiency and waste management. Wipro are
actively seeking to become a very green company. Wipro wants to become fully carbon natural and to
achieve zero carbon emission by balancing the carbon released by the firm with equalling quantity off set.

Literature Review
The concept of green marketing originated in the 1970s - 1980s. The American Marketing Association
organized the first workshop on Ecological Marketing in 1975. In the eighties, some theorists have begun
to deal with this topic, and it was in practice in the nineties, with the beginning of production of
environmentally friendly products, as well as with developing marketing and business concepts that
support this process. Some of the scholars who initially dealt with this issue were Stanton and Futrell
(1987), as well as the Mint and Lozanda (1993). The essence of their concepts is that green marketing, in
a wider sense, implies the marketing of activities that will make the exchange that satisfies the needs and
aspirations of consumers, while reducing the impact of these activities on the physical environment,
possible (quoted by Singh, Singh, Sharma, 2016).

Green marketing mix consists of elements and "eco-friendly" products, designed in such a way that has
the least harmful impact on the environment and, with the help of natural resources, can satisfy consumer
preferences that are unlimited (Chitra, 2007). From all the above definitions it can be concluded that green
marketing promotes a way of doing business that aims to create products that will use the minimum
resources in order to meet the needs of consumers.

Pride and Ferrell (1993) Green marketing, also alternatively known as environmental marketing and
sustainable marketing, refers to an organization's efforts at designing, promoting, pricing and distributing
products that will not harm the environment. There is no single definition accepted universally, but in
1994 Polonsky stated: “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.” The United
Nations Environment Programme defines it as “a marketing which encompasses all communication
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operations undertaken to promote a product on the basis of its environmental properties or of its social
qualities. It is about selling products on an ethical platform.”

Green marketing and sustainable development are linked to common goals, so different green marketing
activities impact on achieving sustainable development: the production of environmentally friendly
products, the use of recyclable materials that are biodegradable in packaging, the production and business
process without environmental pollution – focused on the efficient use of energy, the application of
efficient waste management (Domazet, Pantić, 2015). The concept of green marketing is crucial for
achieving sustainable development for the following reasons: it contributes to cost savings, leads to the
expansion of exports – as there are no issues with "green" bans, helps to establish the company's "green
image", enables the company to be more competitive, helps the company to avoid "green taxes" (Zaharia,
Zaharia, Tudorescu, 2010).

Objective of the Study

The major objectives are,

• To discuss the importance and need of Green Marketing.

• To examine some of the opportunities and the challenges faced by the company.

• To know how companies are getting into new phase of adopting green marketing.

Research Methodology
This study is based on secondary sources of information from various research publications, published
newspapers, journals-online & printed, magazines, websites, books. The information is collected from
libraries and websites. The literature is cross checked and validated to gives the latest information.

Need for Green Marketing

Why do most marketers choose Green Marketing?

Green marketing offers marketers top line growth possibilities and saves money in the long term. For
example, when the solar energy is installed it’s an investment which gives a long-term benefit by saving
future energy cost. These days green marketing is widely adopted by the firms worldwide in order to
create more corporate advantages and opportunities, to improve the Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR), to acquire more profit, to create a competitive pressure. Green marketing provides a lot of financial
gain and profits to the companies or the marketers.

Green Marketing- New Phase of Companies

Though we can notice many companies are moving towards Green Marketing, certain industries can adopt
Green Marketing easily as against others. At present, those companies that can adopt to Green Marketing
experience what is known as First Mover Advantage because not only they provide sustainable products
that are either re-usable or recyclable, the consumers are also conscious about the environment. Since
the resources are limited, every company would have to shift to Green Marketing someday so if they delay
not only the resources deplete, they also lose their customers to the other competitive companies.
Therefore, the sooner they shift, the more resources we can save.

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The customers are focal point of every company so companies need to adapt new strategies based on the
needs of the customers. The needs of the customer have been greatly influenced by mainly the following
factors:

• Growing awareness about Impact of global warming on the future of the planet in general and
damage pollution from industrial waste cause to the environment and other environmental issues

• Growing health consciousness, which is contagious and spreads quickly in the community.

• Furthermore, demand for organic products has risen dramatically

• Cost efficiency that comes with energy, gas and water saving ideas and clear energy initiatives

• Rising middle class and disposable income in India plays a crucial role. According to reports from
McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) India's middle class will grow to 41% by 2025

Going green provides a remarkable diversification strategy and competitive advantage, because
sustainability is a propeller of innovation. Integrating environmentally responsible business practices and
diversifying into producing eco-friendly and organic products as per consumer desires can lead to new
markets and new product lines, higher market share and higher profits. Major corporations have applied
this strategy and are reaping benefits from it and range from all sectors like technology, electronic
consumer products, Fashion industry, Energy industry, and various segments of consumer goods.

When a business decides to go green it also means to change operational strategies, which is important
for the corporate image. The changes include many factors but most important are, saving energy, saving
water and reducing waste, all these accounts for overall reduced costs which results in Increased business
efficiency. So, when companies go green, managing resources wisely using alternatives and renewable
energies, eventually leads to huge incentives in terms of maintained resources without having to
compromise on production of products.

Green business and sustainable practices are the future, which is already here, the wheel of change is
rolling already and there is an old saying that says, "Trees that don't bend with the wind, won't last the
storm."

The bottom line is that businesses that won't change with the storm of market trend to provide green
products will lag behind.

Cost And Profit Issues of Green Marketing

Reducing the use of harmful waste may lead to major cost savings. Many firms develop a relationship
where the waste materials of one firm are used as the raw materials of the other firm which is cost
effective. For example, the thermal power plants which generates fly ash a solid waste and this is used to
manufacture Fly Ash bricks for construction purposes. By this the firm increases the production and by
using the waste products as raw materials there would be a reduction in the need of raw materials which
gives a double cost saving benefit.

Challenges of Green Marketing

1. Finding sustainable alternatives: Green Marketing may seem easier said than done because all
these years we have been using materials and products that were polluting our environment

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without realising that we might need alternatives in the future. As a consequence, when it is the
necessity to find better alternatives, it is difficult to find a sustainable alternative that can be put
to use effectively and which is both economical and viable for the company and consumers.

2. Price rise: In terms of packaging, companies have been using lots of plastic that are non-
degradable since they are cheap. To replace such plastic with glass, or bio-degradable plastics, or
paper it would cost a little more than the single use plastic and the final consumers must bear
that cost. But this price increase will be temporary only because with rising production and
economies of scale, the price will reduce subsequently.

3. Investment: Green Marketing can be done in several ways. It is not just about packaging or
production. So, the companies need to have strong Research & Development Centre who can
devise ways for effective production with alternative resources using better technologies and
ways of disposing/ recycling of the packages which serves the purpose of Green Marketing.

4. Perseverance and Patience: An investment into the environment is the long term investment
opportunity and needs a lot of patience to achieve its benefits. The investors and corporate needs
a lot of patience and perseverance as it doesn’t show any immediate results and takes its own
acceptance period.

5. Standardization: It is found that only 5% of green marketing messages are found true and there is
no standardization to authenticate these products are organic. Some regulatory bodies needs to
be in place for licensing and labelling, unless this happens there will not be any verifiable means.

Opportunities of Green Marketing

Today, Green Marketing is the latest trend that is followed by several companies. All the companies have
huge opportunity by adopting Green Marketing. As long as the natural resources are limited, consumers
have become conscious about the environment and the consequences of non-judicious use of the
resources, Green Marketing offers spectrum of opportunities to all existing and upcoming companies in
the society.

Companies that develop new and improved products and services with environment inputs in mind give
themselves access to new markets, increase their profit sustainability, and enjoy a competitive advantage
over the companies which are not concerned for the environment. Green Marketing might seem as a
costly investment at first because of huge cost of the alternative resources. The companies can get
financial support from various institutions and also the government by getting subsidies to make the
Investment or they can also tie up with other industries who help to produce environment friendly
material or develop new technologies to produce environment friendly products. In this way, companies
can help each other and create a new business environment.

Organizations believe they have a moral obligation to be more socially responsible as the governmental
bodies are forcing firms to become more responsible. Competitors' environmental activities pressure
firms to change their environmental marketing activities. Cost factors associated with waste disposal, or
reductions in material usage forces firms to modify their behaviour.

Here are few firms which has come more environmentally responsible,

➢ With the increasing consumer concern McDonald’s has replaced its calm shell packaging with the
waxed paper.
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➢ The consumer durables of LG are also the example of green marketing.

Small Firms Spend More

Companies with smaller investment tend to invest more on green marketing. Firms with smaller budget
invest 26% on green marketing and firms with greater budget invest 6% on green marketing.

An Example of How Maruthi Excelled in Green Marketing

The company has remained ahead of regulatory requirements in pursuit of environment protection and
energy conservation at its manufacturing facilities, and in development of products that use fewer natural
resources and are environment friendly. The company credited the ‘Just-in-Time’ philosophy adopted and
internalized by the employees as the prime reason that helped to excel in the direction.

The company has been promoting 3R since its inception. As a result the company has not only been able
to recycle 100% of treated waste water but also reduced fresh water consumption. The company has
implemented rain water harvesting to recharge the aquifers. Also, recyclable packing for bought out
components is being actively promoted. The green co-efficient of this system is much better than the
conventional system.

Starbucks’s Green Marketing

The company provides free coffee to people who bring their own reusable mugs. They say that their
aspiration is to become resource positive. In 2018 Green store frameworks was launched by Starbucks an
initiative to make 300 stores 100% powered by renewables, 25% more energy efficiency, 30% more water
efficient and the company has also improved in recycling and waste diversion. Starbucks has a
commitment to sustainability as a part of it they develop more eco-friendly products and they are looking
for ways to manage waste in stores and communities.

Suggestions on Green Marketing

Here are few suggestions on how organisations should implement for a successful exploitation on green
marketing:

➢ Making the consumers aware about the green products, and educating them and create
awareness on the environmental threats. The Advertisements and campaigns on Green Marketing
is a better step towards it so that consumers must be able to switch brands and even motivated
to pay premium for green products.

➢ The companies must make sure that the product performs its job and it should and make them
believe that they can bring a change. The government must play an important role by creating
specific and stringent laws on Green marketing and make this place environment friendly to live
in.

➢ Today consumers are becoming socially responsible and conscious about the environment they
are living in. So the leading brands should recognize that the consumer thoughts have changed.

Conclusion
The demand for green products exists and this makes the companies to increase their market share by
introducing eco-friendly products. Basically Green Marketing needs consumers to Think green, Think Eco-

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Friendly and to Think clean. It’s the consumer responsibility to use Eco-friendly products and choosing
one product over the other which is more environment friendly. Though the green marketing products
are priced higher, modify individual lifestyles the consumers must come forward and use them. Until this
happens it’s difficult for the firm to get into the revolution of green marketing.

References
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http://www.businessworld.in/article/Green-Products-How-Can-They-Provide-Competitive-
Advantage/24-03-2016-92234/

https://www.hilarispublisher.com/open-access/industry-initiatives-for-green-marketing-in-india-2151-
6219-1000192.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302589120_Green_Marketing_-
Challenges_and_Opportunities

http://publications.anveshanaindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/GREEN-MARKETING-A-WAY-TO-
SUSTAINABLE-DEVELOPMENT-1.pdf

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