Sustainable Marketing: Benefits, Challenges, And Risks

What is Sustainable Marketing?

Question:

Describe about the Sustainable Product and Service Market And Its Growth Potential In New Zealand?

Sustainable marketing is the practice in marketing whereby companies take the initiative to promote eco-friendly products and services. They commit not to exhaust the environment whether rural or urban (Seretny & Seretny, 2012). It means that companies designing a product which can be universally used by all consumers for years without affecting the ecosystem (Gordon, Carrigan & Hastings, 2011). In this of marketing a company tries to benefit from the greater significance that the consumers put on a particular product which is eco-friendly, so that the company can restructure their investment for the manufacturing of the same product (Blunck, Gillpatrick, Ashori & Pantelic, n.d.).

We have one planet but we use our resources as if we have more than one. Many companies are changing their marketing strategies so that they can come up with eco-friendly products which does not harm the environment and have adverse effect on it (Barutcu & Tomas, 2013). The future of sustainability in marketing depends on the consumers also as it depends on the companies. If the consumers change their tastes and preferences towards purchasing eco-friendly products, the environment gets saved (Arseculeratne & Yazdanifard, 2013). Switching to these kinds of sustainable products gives the company an opportunity to create products which compensates the needs of the people very well without disturbing the ecology (Kelly, 2011). Companies now use green marketing strategy wherein a company develops a product which involves features that provides ecological balance. The future of our generations depends on us, if the present generation use product and services which are environmentally safe than the future generations will not have to compromise. Many a time companies suffer from “sustainability marketing myopia” (Thomas, 1987). This happens when a company is unable to anticipate the customer needs and problems that will be faced by the environment by using a particular product. Sustainable marketing has now also become a part of corporate social responsibility in which products and services delivered to the consumers are environmentally safe, not harming the ecosystem (Micangeli et al., 2014). Many consumers not know about the sustainable products of a particular company, they often interrogate the intention of the company and their social responsibility (TWISS, 1984). For example, “All Good” started its business years back and is still in business because they use ingredients which are best for growers, best for the land on which they are grown and finally best for the end-user, i.e., the consumers.

Eco-friendly product is one of the sustainable products in New Zealand.   In this country greenery is one of the eco-friendly products. According to different study it has been found out that the customers are very much concerned about the production of agricultural food because it is about their health and well- being. It has been understood through the study of environmental sustainability that the vineyards of New Zealand plays an important role in the vine markets.  According to the residents of New Zealand sustainable wine are much better than the normal wine found in the market. As there is a demand of sustainable wine in that market then the growth potential of the product is very high. In winter season New Zealand is one of the chilling countries and people living there take wine to keep them warm and not only that wine is one of the sophisticated drinks which people consume be it in their home or any party they are attending. So the growing rate of this product in this country is very high (Bhattacharya, Hildebrand & Sen, n.d.).

Benefits of Sustainable Marketing

Labour and skill market is one of the important service markets in New Zealand. In this country skilled labours are giving much importance as there are many small and medium enterprises. Skills are in demand in this country because works like agriculture, construction, education, health and social service are very much done here. Country like New Zealand is a highly skilled country so people working in this country have to be highly skilled. Tourism is also one of the main export income and many people work in this sector. As this country is a skilled based country so when there is a downfall in the economy the workers engage themselves in other works. But when there is demand then there is a shortage of skilled workers but when there is no demand then these workers are ideal and they remain unused. Electricity department is also one of the popular sectors in New-Zealand.  In this sector there are various departments like production, transference, delivery and retailing and people engage themselves in these works.

Competition means challenging against each other with the purpose of achieving of superiority from the other (Ghamari, n.d.). “Sustainable competitive advantage is the unique position that an organization develops in relation to competitors that allows it to outperform them consistently”. A firm will achieve sustainable competitive advantage if it applies strategies which will use internal potency so that they response well to the environmental factors and simultaneously counterbalancing the external factors (Morrish & Lee, 2011). A company can be sustainable with its products if it can improve its competencies and efficacy in the way its competitors cannot. For example, AECOM, a leading company in New Zealand uses the framework of challenging each group everyday so that work comes out better (Robertson, 1996). They make an effort to put together sustainability into all their projects and exploit their “Sustainable Development Group” to defy everyday ponder on New Zealand’s infrastructure and real estate projects as well as designing, landscape work and planning.

The key challenges in sustainable marketing are population of the world has increased since last 50 years and with the consumption rate is also increasing (Papprill, 2006). With increased levels of production as well as consumption it is of great concern what will be the impact on the future generations. Making products which will be accepted by the consumers and also the environment is also a big challenge for the companies (Tahoori, Rosnah & Norzima, 2014). Companies need to expand its sustainability issues which help in attracting and retaining new and old consumers respectively.

The risks which are involved with sustainable marketing practice are:

• Operating Risk: When a company gets into making sustainable products or participates in bringing sustainability it uses up financial resources to bring a product or a service in the eyes of the consumers portraying it as big as possible from their competitors. Now if the consumers are not satisfied with the product than the company faces a loss in their sales, profitability and market share.
• Market Risk: Companies now are bringing in product with green label. Consumers are also getting inclined to the products which are eco-friendly but if these products comes in a reasonable price than the consumers stay in benefit. With increase in the prices of the eco-friendly product or services the consumers become cautious enough not to purchase the product or service. Thus the companies losses its share in the market disrupting its customer base. For example, Art Hotel Great Ponsoby is a small hotel in New Zealand which provides bed and breakfast in just two minutes walk to Ponsoby Road; they use all eco-friendly products for laundry, cleaning, guest amenities, etc., now if the cost of this service is slated high than Art Hotel might lose its consumer risking its market.
• Company Image Risk: A consumer sticks to a company for its image, and once it is ruined the consumer base is lost. When a company makes any change in its product it has to see its value in the market whether it is cost-effective or liked by the consumers. If the company fails to give consistency of eco-friendly products to the consumers it kills the image of the company. A consumers mind-set can change anytime which falls as a risk on the company and its image.

Drivers for digital media:

• Pervasive Mobility & Responsive Design: Now marketing has changed itself from traditional approach of seller-buyer being at once, and moving into the world information technology. Now consumers and sellers may not be in the same place while transactions but they can both be available when a product is being purchased online. Responsive design detects the consumers screen size and layout and helps the consumers accordingly while purchasing a product (Barutcu & Tomas, 2013).
• Business Blogging: When a customer purchases a product online they have many questions in their mind. So a company to stay in competitive advantage should maintain a blog keeping its best employees who can answer the concerns of the consumers and also write details of the products increasing the knowledge of the consumers (‘The fusion marketing bible: fuse traditional media, social media, and digital media to maximize marketing’, 2013). Whether a product is eco-friendly or not if determined from the blog by the consumers it makes the company efficient gaining the trust and loyalty of the customers (Friesen, 2011).
• Google Authorship: Now with the help of Google+ the company executive, heads and other experts can publish their testimonials online, to make themselves known and recognized in the content areas so as to boost the benefits of search engine in the business.
• Inbound Marketing: Inbound marketing means to get recognized by the customers. The strategy is to bring all the above points together so that you can attain success.

Applications of digital media for sustainable marketing:

• Advertising: A company can advertise through digital media about their products, so that the customers get knowledge of the same sitting at home.
• Transaction: Today in the world of technology customers are more comfortable with online transactions. So a company can sell their product online for the easy access of the customers.
• Promotion: Nowadays customers have become technologically advanced so the companies take up the initiative to promote the products or services digitally.
• Business Blog: A company can use digital media for writing about the product and services they are providing so that the customers get a firsthand knowledge about the product and about its authenticity.

Dangers associated with digital media as a medium of communication:

• PR crisis: A public relations crisis can prove to be a danger for a company. If the company is found to falsify information about their products, if a smallest of small information is found to be wrong than the company will receive negative feedback. And risk its image (McDonagh, 1998).
• Selection of vendors: A company fully rely on it vendors in case of online transactions, if any one of the vendors is found to be offensive than the company may loss its business and also the loyalty of its customers (Kaul, 2012).
• Security Breaches: If the company does not have proper security tags on their pages it helps the hackers to hack into the company’s page and mishandle the data.

Sustainable marketing and social responsibility is the two sides of a same coin. Sustainable marketing does not only mean to develop or make products which are eco-friendly but it also means that the product should be channelized to the customers in an ethical way (Ferrell, Weaver, Taylor & Jones, 1978). As the consumers today go for eco-friendly products, the company is accountable and should make sure that the products are goes through proper manufacturing process. Today along with earning profit and maximizing sales a company’s objective is also to see the welfare of its customers because today marketing has left behind the concept of traditional marketing and moved to relationship based marketing. The company should take the initiative to address ethics to build a strong customer base. The products of the company should not affect the well being of the consumers and as well as the environment.

Challenges in Sustainable Marketing

Segmentation in sustainable marketing can be done in the following ways (Jaffe, Berger & Jamieson, 1992):

• Personal Values: In this attribute the customer’s behavior and perceptions are examined in which the whether the customers want a full description of their product online or they want a face-to-face discussion of the product, whether a customer wants a different ingredient of the product, etc (Haustein & Hunecke, 2013).
• Beliefs about sustainability: This attribute segments the people who believe that the product can be accepted economically and environmentally. It is also seen that if the customers want to change their lifestyle into sustainable living (‘Segmenting for Sustainability: The Development of a Welsh Model to Engage the Public in Sustainability and Sustainability’, 2015).
• Energy saving: In this attribute it was examined how much conscious the customers are towards sustaining the environment and energy. If using only sustainable products can be used by them or not (Seretny & Seretny, 2012).
• Demographics: In this attribute the characteristics of the consumers can be seen whether they can afford the price of the product, who will be consuming the product, age of the consumer according to which the attributes of the product can be changed.

The target markets for sustainable marketing are as follows (Dibb & Simkin, 1991):

• Consumers who are aware of the sustainable issues and the products which are environmentally safe.
• Consumers who clearly and firmly believe in keeping in good health, healthy foods having a great level of responsibility for the ecosystem and social matters.
• Consumers who are concerned about local sustainability and consumption.
• Consumers who are concerned about environment and wants to be more concerned about it.
• Consumers who are parents and wants their children to consume the best of eco-friendly products and make them aware of the environmental issues and problems.

Conclusion

Sustainable marketing helps in restoring the environment by creating awareness by the companies in the minds of the people. There are many companies in New Zealand such as AECOM, Art Hotel, EERST, etc are working towards making a better place for the future generations to survive without compromising (Tansu Barker, 1987). It has been forecasted that the balance in environment can be brought by developing sustainable products and services keeping in mind the taste and preferences of the consumers. A company can have competitive advantage if switch to manufacturing sustainable products but there are several risks and challenges involved in it. If a consumer doesn’t like a product it may create a negative image of the company and the firm may suffer financial losses losing its market share and also potential customer base. Digital media helps the sustainable product market in making a change. The consumers are now technologically advanced and they will always want to know about a particular product sitting at home, so the company makes most use of the digital media to bring a product to its customers. The company when using digital media as a tool for marketing should keep in mind the risks that come along with it. Sustainable products can be segmented in different segments of personal values, demographics, etc and are targeted towards people who really are concerned about themselves, the future generations and the ecosystem as well. For example, Environmental Education for Resource Sustainability Trust (EERST) educates on minimizing waste and saving the environment. They have helped in reducing carbon dioxide release through afforestation. They have “Paper4trees” in schools and preschools in which the New Zealand’s future generations are helping to create sustainable environment by adopting sustainable habits which they put into practice every day.

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