Thursday, April 7, 2011

Survey Results – Part 1: Additional research results regarding price and availability of eco-friendly action sports products


Additional findings from Sustainability in Action Sports Blog research...

SECTION 4 – PRICE AND AVAILABILITY OF GOODS IN MORE DETAIL
Additional research results also showed that consumer access is key. Price and availability are the two main factors as we have witnessed in the previous post.
Bivariate correlations with perceived negative effects of higher prices showed that:
  • older people (+.210**)
  • with more income (+.167**)
  • and accentuated levels of ethical obligation (+.220**),
  • often in the Hiking/Climbing and the Skiing segments
are not as much negatively affected in their buying intention when expecting price premiums. Therefore, their more positive levels of perceived behavioral control in terms of price have a supportive effect on their purchase behavior of green clothing products.
This consumer type resembles a target group description that has often been calledLOHAS (Life of Health and Sustainability). LOHAS are defined by Nielsen as consumers who are lifestyle-oriented, active stewards of the environmentthat incorporates those environmental and social values into their purchase decisions (cp. Nielsen 2009 about Canadian shoppers). But while the connection between environmental attitude, green identity and ethical obligation and eco-friendly purchasing decisions is strong, the decision still largely depends on the funds the individual consumer has at her disposal. Here, the older, the more educated means more income – more income means private budget isn’t as tight (that’s also why there is so many skiers – the correlation between skiing and age is positive, while it’s exactly the other way round for all boardsports. I must admit though – the survey has primarily been targeted at the boardsports scene and left younger freeskiers aside a little bit, which is truly a shame…). After all, this is one of the major discrepancies when trying to market green outerwear to the snowboard & freeski kids – for them it’s all about style and price, while green comes last for most of them, understandably. This is why companies from the action sports industry need to find ways to offer sustainable products without hefty price premiums. This blog and future post are trying to give some insights on potential solutions!
Bivariate correlations with expected levels of availability of eco-friendly outerwear in the stores showed that respondents with:
  • accentuated levels of environmental identity (-.139*)
  • positive green consumption attitudes (-.267**)
  • a stronger feeling of ethical obligation to buy environmentally friendly (-.142*)
  • and under the influence of significant others from the close social environment (-.133*)
were likely to show more positive purchase intentions, despite that fact that they expected availability to be lower. An explanation: the negative correlation means that the more positive the respondent’s attitude towards buying eco-friendly, the more he saw the lack of green products in the stores as a big obstacle. This lack of presence in the shop on the other hand did not influence the buying intention negatively. This means their behavioral intention to purchase green clothing was higher, although they knew about potential obstacles in the buying process (no nearby shops with a sustainable product range from multiple brands, etc.). This is good news! The finding shows that this (more extreme type of) green consumer is willing to overcome these obstacles actively. But as this results inhigher search costs (time and money invested to find or identify green products), it limits the size of the potential target group. Thus, improving the distribution strategy is important. It’s key to develop synergies between industry players on all levels of the supply chain to create a stronger and larger distribution network.
These two findings add more depth to the results from the previous blog and are also an important outcome for the upcoming marketing research analysis in the following blog posts about this topic. Stay tuned for more updates this coming week!

** correlation is significant at the .01 sign. level (2-tailed).
correlation is significant at the .05 sign. level (2-tailed).

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