Green consumerism: the trend is your friend.

• Author: Ottman, Jacquelyn A.
• Position: Meeting the Environmental Challenge

While |green' is a moving target, we do know that it spells opportunity, and plenty of it -- for profits, sales, and deepened customer relationships.

Consumers the world over are turning "green." Here in the U.S., the environment shifted from a fringe to a mainstream concern, with the Exxon oil spill in 1989 setting up an outraged consumer base ready to embrace Earth Day the following year. In just the last decade in western Europe, green party members have moved from the radical fringe into positions in local and national governments, not to mention the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Green consumers wear many hats: shoppers, retailers, business-to-business customers, shareholders, and employees, among them. What is significant is that green consumers are turning to industry for solutions to the environment problems they see as threats to their lives or livelihoods. Together, they are shaping a new trend, which I call environmental or green consumerism and define as "individuals attempting to protect themselves and their world through the power of their purchasing decisions."

Why is this trend happening now? The answer can be found in two words: baby boomers. Seventy-seven million strong, they will represent over a third of the population in the 1990s. They will also all be over age 30 by the mid '90s; the older ones have matured into positions of power and influence within society. They are all settling down and having children. They are looking to safeguard their health and that of their children. Their health and fitness consciousness is now evolving into a broader focus on wellness.

With the baby boomers' move into middle age comes a natural shift in consumption values, from a focus on acquisition to a focus on quality, as it relates to their quality of life. Riddled by the guilt that now accompanies the disposable products that have become so much a part of all our lives, baby boomers now want fewer things, and of better quality. Suddenly, less is becoming more.

Rightly or wrongly, consumers are pinning the blame for environmental deterioration on industry and government. Individuals see industry as the primary cause of environmental problems, including air and water pollution and chemical wastes.

The impact of all of this on industry is that consumers are now demanding green products and socially responsible companies, "socially responsible" meaning responsible to the full range of constituents beyond shareholders -- including employees, plant neighbors, residents of Third World countries, even the unborn -- who will feel the impact of today's corporate activity in generations to come.

The trouble is, however, that no one knows what green really is. Regulators won't define it. Scientists have yet to agree on methodologies for life cycle analysis. What is certain is that green is a moving target.

While we don't know exactly what green means, we do know that it spells opportunity, and plenty of it. Opportunity for profits, sales, and deepened customer relationships. But before getting into specifics, I will outline six key drivers of the green consumerism movement and discuss what the trend means...