12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 9, 2008
By MARIA HALKIAS / The Dallas Morning News
Attention, tree huggers: Your values aren't so exclusive anymore.
Earth Day 2008, on April 22, marks a paradigm shift in the social consciousness of America as mainstream retail makes it easier for consumers to live a greener lifestyle.Merchandise that appeals to the environmentally conscious no longer requires a trip to a specialty store but is as close as the neighborhood shopping center. That means all the trappings of a green lifestyle are also becoming more affordable for middle America.
Move over President's Day and weekend early bird sales. Shoppers: Prepare to hear the new mantra as the mall turns green this month.
Organic cotton bath towels and sheets and Arizona jeans made from recycled denim are available at J.C. Penney. An eco-friendly tote bag designed by Fossil Inc. is among the products coming to Macy's, and next month Target will stock its first eco-friendly, limited-edition designer collection.
Product manufacturers from Coca-Cola to Keds sneakers to Dell computers are pushing recycled materials and ways to offset your carbon impact.
With Earth Day's roots dating to the 1960s, consumers have seen plenty of eco-friendly fads and trends over the years.
Is the timing right to broadcast this marketing message?
"This time, it's a shift," said Mary Brett Whitfield, senior vice president at TNS Retail Forward. The firm surveyed consumers in November 2006 and last January on various brands and retailers and their commitment to social responsibility.
Consumers said that issues such as reducing waste and supporting recycling were more important to them in the most recent poll, Ms. Whitfield said.
Even as the economy weakened between the two polls, consumers said in January that they were willing to pay a little more for a product that met some aspect of social responsibility, such as being energy-efficient or packaged to reduce waste.
Those consumer attitudes are making niche products more widely available, she said.
"What's happening now is not about mainstream America becoming more green; what we're seeing now is making green products more mainstream," said Raphael Bemporad, principal and co-founder of BBMG, a market research firm that has published a new report on the conscious consumer.
About 60 percent of Americans already identify themselves as socially responsible, he said. The most dedicated 10 percent are willing to be inconvenienced; the next 20 percent share the same values as the most dedicated but are less likely to make trade-offs; and the next 30 percent say they'll switch if performance, quality and price are delivered.
Companies are figuring out more ways to go green and save money at the same time. In reality, Wal-Mart got on board with the ultra-concentrated detergent in smaller bottles because it cost less, but if Wal-Mart does it, consumers take notice, Ms. Whitfield said.
Wal-Mart's campaign to get Americans to replace their light bulbs with more energy-efficient curly fluorescents has also had an impact.
In its January poll, Retail Forward asked consumers which retailers they believed were committed to sustainability and social responsibility initiatives. For the first time, Wal-Mart jumped ahead of Whole Foods Market, she said.
In BBMG's poll, Wal-Mart ranked third, behind Whole Foods and Newman's Own.
Although eco-friendly awareness has gone mainstream, the dangers that manufacturers and retailers face with such claims is that they can't just be buzzwords, Mr. Bemporad said.
"That means more skepticism, and authenticity is more important than ever," he said.
"There will be a huge backlash if marketing claims and how a company behaves don't match."
