If Retailers Want to Survive, They Must Stay on the Green Path

Retailers trying to cut costs in this flailing economy have been sent a strong message from consumers: don’t sacrifice your efforts to go green. A survey by Havas Media of 20,000 consumers in 10 countries found that 80% would reward brands that adopted sustainable practices and 72% would punish those who don’t bother.

From Reuters:

Some 48 percent of the people surveyed also said they were prepared to pay a little bit more for sustainable goods.

The survey found retailers scored highly in such areas such as responsible marketing, fair prices and sale of healthy products, with companies like Wal-Mart in the United States, El Cortes Ingles in Spain and Marks & Spencer in Britain identified by consumers as leaders in the field.

However, store groups performed less well in areas like packaging, recycling, sourcing of goods and fair pay.

The fact that the mainstream public has put such a high value on sustainability is enormously encouraging, but Christ on a bicycle, how in the gullible toothless hell is it that so many people see Wal-Mart as a “leader in the field”?

Even the company itself has admitted that its campaign to convince the public that it’s environmentally responsible “has been positive from a PR standpoint, but one of the things we learned is that we are not sophisticated enough to spin a story — ultimately, we’d get hammered. We are not out saying we’re a green company. We are not green. We have an extraordinary distance to go.”

Straight from the horse’s mouth, yet commercials about Wal-Mart selling CFLs (whoop-de-freaking-doo) are still influencing public opinion of the company. Nice job, Wal-Mart PR & marketing team.

Link [Reuters]
Photo credit: Ed Zurga, Bloomberg News via Treehugger

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