What I learned about the 'Green' consumer

The green consumer is not who you think it is. This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending www.d2eboston.com to represent my client, BiOH polyols (makers of a soy based ingredient used in cushions and mattresses-www.BiOH.com) at the exhibit space of one of BiOH’s retail partners-Circle Furniture.

Circle is a well known independent Boston area retailer with six stores and a core focus on sustainability in their brand messaging. They carry several lines of furniture made with foams containing BiOH branded soy polyols including Lee, C.R.Laine, Maine Cottage and American Leather.

The opportunity to speak with consumers who came by the exhibit space was absolutely eye-opening for me. I had many misperceptions about the green consumer and this post will highlight a few of them. I also hope to give you with some ideas on how you might connect with, what I am now convinced, is the biggest opportunity for you- ever- to attract new customers into your stores-”green” messaging.

Here are the misperceptions I had going into this expo:
1. The green consumer is “crunchy” and “granola” in their appearance. Absolutely the opposite was true. The consumers at this show were very upscale in their appearance, dress and mannerisms.

2. The green consumer was, primarily, a woman in her 50’s. Absolutely the opposite was true-the green consumer is young(20’s to mid 30’s) and MALE OR the green consumer is a mid-30’s VERY HIP couple with BOTH parties equally interested, engaged and involved in the learning and decision making process.

3. The green consumer is only mildly interested in green and is still buying primarily on style and price. NOT TRUE. These consumers were digging for every last shred of information I could give them on sustainably sourced materials used in furniture production. They were VERY particular about the authenticity of the story. Greenwashing is on their radar and they are DEMANDING verification.

4. The green consumer really cares about the total integrity of your brand message. You cannot just be saying your products are “sourced sustainably.” Consumers wanted to know how Circle was going “green” INTERNALLY in their own operations, as well! They were very interested in knowing the TOTAL story-internally and externally before deciding if this was an AUTHENTIC and TRANSPARENT retailer or just someone trying to make a buck off of the word “green.”

5. Consumers took a LOT OF TIME with me talking about what constituted sustainable furnishings. They sat down, asked questions, listened and asked more questions. This shocked me. The key was for me to start the conversation by saying, “What do you know about green furniture already and how can I help you learn what you need to know?”

6. Once I asked that, they realized I could help EDUCATE them(vs. “sell” them) and they were absolutely 100% engaged with me-often for over a half hour or more! Several came back more than once. I had many opportunities to SUBTLY reinforce BiOH’s brand messaging without it coming across as a hard sell. They were very impressed re: all aspects of the NaturalLee brand which is what was showcased in the exhibit space. The number one thing of interest was the fabric-there is a huge opportunity for our industry to tout organic fabrics that have authentic documentation re: sourcing and to sell them as cut yardage or slipcovers.

7. None of these consumers had ever heard of The Sustainable Furnishings Council. www.sustainablefurnishings.org. They had no idea there was a resource like this available for them to educate themselves. There was huge interest from every single person I spoke with. They took it upon themselves to write down the website address.

Here is what I now know FOR SURE:

1. Have a professional like www.greenyourinside.com conduct an internal audit of your company re: green. DO NOT send out a green message without FIRST committing INTERNALLY to “green” business practices. Make sure this is communicated in every single way possible with every employee and they live and breathe it. Consumers are HYPER AWARE of total organizational alignment with the green message. You may get a few sales if you aren’t green internally, but as this consumer market matures, you will lose if the message for green isn’t coming from the CEO and encoded into the DNA of your company culture at every level.

2. DEMAND from your vendors that they start USING and DOCUMENTING every aspect of what they are doing to source sustainably. CONSUMERS really, really care about the documentation. For a great example of documentation, check out Englander mattresses. There was not a single consumer who visited the booth who was not willing to pay more for sustainably sourced products. The Lee sofa present was 2800.00 retail. None of them wanted to buy from IKEA because they realized IKEA’s products didn’t last and ended up in a landfill eventually-even though IKEA is progressive in it’s own sustainable sourcing and messaging.

3. Once you have incorporated this messaging internally, take every opportunity to get this message written out and incorporated into several individual pages on your website. TELL THIS STORY ONLINE if you have it to tell.

IF , however, YOU ARE NOT GETTING SALES RESULTS FROM THE GREEN MESSAGING YOU ARE DOING, THIS MEANS THAT THE CONSUMER IS NOT CONVINCED YET or has not HEARD the message- YET. Be original with this consumer. They are VERY tech saavy.

You also must be AUTHENTIC and PROVE your green message to the CONSUMER’s SATISFACTION (not yours) BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT. (Manufacturers-take note-train your reps and give them documentation from YOUR vendors) This does not mean that you have to be totally “green”-not at all. You have to be totally TRANSPARENT about how you are WORKING TO BECOME GREEN and where you are making strides-and where you still have a long way to go. It’s ok-the consumer respects honesty and authenticity above all else in this arena. A blog is the perfect tool to communicate this message-make sure your blog is monitored so you can answer all comments asap.

4. Lastly, you must train your retail sales teams to the teeth. I mean this. They are going to be totally blindsided by the onslaught of interest that is coming if you do not. For this training, I recommend the education program now in place from The Sustainable Furnishings Council. Not only is it important to educate your people, but there is a real reason it is NOT AN OPTION.
If this consumer comes into your store and your retail sales consultants sound uninformed and clueless, this consumer can easily go online to a consumer opinion site like www.yelp.com or others and write a negative review of your ENTIRE COMPANY. This can and will KILL your online reputation and damage your business.

As retailers, you cannot afford to NOT get on the green train. Until now, it has been chugging along, but it is now being powered by a steam turbine called the Obama administration and federal dollars for green initiatives.

As an industry CEO recently told me, Green is the new GREEN.

If you doubt any of this, come and listen to the panel discussion I am moderating during the High Point Market event that BiOH is sponsoring for the Sustainable Furnishings Council called, “Sustainability and Social Media-Green Marketing”, at 5 pm. on Monday, March 27th in the Natura showroom.

Imagine the difference our entire industry can make, if, by working together, we demand our suppliers to use sustainably sourced materials. Every single one of us could take pride in leaving a better planet for future generations.

I am on board for that, are you?