Archive for 'Green Business'
Are There Too Many Eco-Labels?
Posted on 01. Oct, 2010 by admin.
Every day, each and every one of us is faced with an overwhelming number of choices. From when we wake up in the morning until we go to bed, we make hundreds of decisions among the thousands of choices we have. Grocery stores now carry over 30,000 unique products and many big box retailers carry over 100,000. And as a society, we love choices. In fact, the United States was founded on individuals’ autonomy to choose, dating back to the Declaration of Independence.
But having so many choices isn’t always good for us. Thomas Jefferson’s declaration of our inalienable right to liberty has gotten a bit out of control. We spend a large amount of our time making irrelevant and unimportant decisions. Such complex decision making causes stress, anxiety and self-doubt.
When faced with the choice of 300 different types of cookies in the store aisle, whether I choose to buy Chips Ahoy or Oreos will have no impact on my well-being, but yet I still spend three minutes agonizing over each package.
Likewise, we face a similar conundrum with ecolabels. With over 300 ecolabels and many more being added each year, consumers and businesses have to make increasingly complex and convoluted decisions. Manufacturers must weigh many different factors when making their choice of what ecolabels to get for their products, including cost, ROI, and credibility of the label.
Continue Reading
Brands Matter for Green Products
Posted on 29. Jul, 2010 by admin.
I suppose the headline of this post is a bit of a, “duh.” We all know brands matter … that’s why we spend so much money building and defending them.
In all the discussions and theories, though, around why consumers choose green products, there’s little discussion of brand. And our soon-to-be-published Green Living Pulse study reveals that there is, in fact, a big correlation. There’s also a triumph of brand over initial gut-reaction.
Here’s the story:
We preceded our Green Living Pulse study with focus groups and, knowing from our Eco Pulse study that advertising and packaging are the primary source of information for consumers about what’s green and what’s not, we tested several TV commercials for green products and packages as well. In particular, the ad we showed for Clorox GreenWorks elicited several negative comments. Not about the product – about the brand name. If I were to show you a movie of clips from these focus groups, you’d hear the following:
“It’s Clorox – how could it be green?…I would have found it more believable if they hadn’t used the Clorox name…When I think of Clorox I think of bleach! Something I have to wear gloves to use can’t be green?”
Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/07/23/brands-matter-green-products#ixzz0v6HWrYBN
Continue Reading
UPS’s Green Shipping Program Goes Global
Posted on 06. Jul, 2010 by admin.
ATLANTA, GA — United Parcel Service is expanding its carbon neutral shipping program to 35 countries and territories in Europe, Asia and the Americas following the launch of the service last fall in the United States.
Under the program, shippers in the U.S. can offset the carbon footprint of their packages by paying a small fee that covers cost of the offsets, emissions calculation and administration: Five cents for a ground package, 20 cents for an air package and 75 cents for an international package. Outside the U.S., the flat fee varies slightly depending on the country of origin and the destination of the package and the service selected by the shipper.
Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/07/06/upss-green-shipping-program-goes-global#ixzz0svjM9dDr
