Renowned market researchers and environmental scientists discussed ecological consumption

There are many ecological products today, from energy-saving refrigerator on to the super- eco washing powder to biological sausage . Nevertheless, consumers do not use these offers as manufacturers and retailers are hoping that. What are the reasons?Senior environmental and market research experts presented this questions at a workshop at the Institute for Industrial Ecology ( INEC ) at Pforzheim University .

Dr. Mathias Bauer of the company bioVista pointed out that organic food stores currently have relatively high growth rates in sales . In the past 10 years, they have almost doubled their market share. But overall, the market share is at low 4 percent - and it is still good in a European comparison , said Professor Raimund Wildner , Vice President of GfK Association of Nürnberg, the most renowned market research institute in Germany . Environment is no longer the most important issue affecting the people . Germany leads the list with the largest environmental awareness in the international comparison - in addition to Sweden. In countries such as Italy, Poland or even Spain , however, there other problems are more important.

Wildner reports from his statistics that education and income are the strongest factors influencing ecological buying behavior. In recent years, we have constructed the group of so-called LOHAS consumers; the acronym stands for Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability . " Totally overrated ," said another heavyweight of German market research, Professor Hans-Willi Schroiff , long time in charge of market research at the chemical company Henkel. He spoke of new ecological products , which were exactly tailored to this group of consumers and they still flopped in the market. LOHAS , which was a "hyped weak signal" in recent years , ie, a current that was written up by science and the media , but as an anchor topic for new and more ecological product strategies it is not enough.

GfK expert Wildner pointed out the importance of a reliable strategy of the manufacturer, if they want to score with organic products . For example , companies that manufacture both environmentally friendly as well as conventional products have a credibility problem on the consumer side. For the companies  "green" has relevance only in some markets of the EU and plays no role in many countries. But many products today are designed for world markets.

The willingness to pay is still the major factor in the purchase decision of organic products was pointed out by Andrea Moser, a research fellow at the Pforzheimer INEC. She is currently involved with a project that is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research . She evaluates the data of the Association for Consumer Research (GfK ), which observed consumer behavior on a sample of 30,000 households for decades.

In another federally funded project, the INEC-researchers Dr. Christian Haubach and Benjamin Held  calculate , what consumers actually have to pay for "green".  In the food and beverage sector they can already deduce from their extensive analysis, that it would be more than 70 percent more expensive, would the average household instead of traditional foods change anywhere on organic products .

Is "eco" just for the rich? The discussion on this was exciting . The Heidelberg economist Professor Hans Diefenbacher pointed out that an environmentally conscious behavior could significantly reduce costs , egthrough reduced meat consumption , or if you cook the jam yourself again . For jam, honey, etc. belongs to  an expensive product segment , and here  money can be saved. All were stunned, when GfK expert Wildner reports from his extensive statistics that not only the educated and rich most likely buy "green", but also the people with little formal education and low income.

All experts agreed that "eco" will only have a chance if  it is shown quite plainly to the  consumers what benefits and value they have by the ecological products. In the white goods sector , ie washing machines and refrigerators, this was already successful . Even devices with a higher purchase price are popular with consumers ; it is now known by year long educational work and eco- label , that the additional costs are outweighed by lower energy prices. The value added by the ecological alternative product must be better communicated in other product areas .