Usefulness of Green Marketing-Literacy and Purchase Decisions

Abstract

Let every individual and institution now thinks and acts as a responsible trustee of the Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure". John McConnel (Founder of International Earth Day) As the components of our environment are dynamically dependent and interrelated, even a small change in its equilibrium will have serious consequences on mankind. The functioning of our ecosystem is hampered by various types of pollution resulting from anthropogenic activities, which in turn impacts life of any kind. It is time to realize our responsibilities towards nature and reduce our damage to the environment. No other creature of nature is altering the environment as human being is changing it by its selfish motives to satisfy his short term requirements and benefits. While manis in the progress of sustainable development, by sacrificing the natural environment it is not possible to attain it.One effort towards saving the environment has originated the concept of green marketing in modern business. Green marketing focuses on saving the earth's resources in production, operating,packaging, transporting, delivering etc., for environmental compatibility with performance, affordability, convenience and environmental safety. The paper interests to share the usefulness of green marketing and to know the awareness, liking and satisfaction of people about green marketing. A survey was done in two cities of TamilnaduSalem and Coimbatore with a sample of 200 selected customers through convenience sampling technique from different grocery stores and shopping malls in order to get an insight into the concept.The study revealed that the green products have substantial awareness amongcustomers and they are willing to buy and pay for green products. Customers also considered awareness and availability of green products as an important deciding factor in promoting green marketing.