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Green Products Sell Well As Eco-Friendliness Goes Mainstream

  • Ad Age, Monday, April 20, 2009 11 AM
It looks like green marketing is recession-proof, Jack Neff reports, with launches of sustainable, environmentally friendly or "eco-friendly" products tripling so far in 2009, according to Datamonitor. In addition, Nielsen Co. data show sales growth of organic food at 5.6% year over year in December from a year ago.

Though growth slowed in the fourth quarter, it was still more than 7% in December, far healthier than the rates at even top-performing grocery retailers such as Walmart or Costco. "It looks like this green trend is going to survive the recession," says Tom Vierhile, gm at Datamonitor's Product Launch Analytics.

As for the mainstream claim, Information Resources Inc. research finds sales of green products growing fastest in the 52 weeks ended Jan. 25 in a predominantly Hispanic segment labeled "respectful stewards" and a predominantly white-male segment labeled "proud traditionalists." Sales actually remained flat in the "eco-centric" segment with the highest interest in green issues.

The article includes four tips for green marketers, including the encouraging point that "opportunities remain."

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