New Study Shows Energy Savings is Key for Consumers Considering Green Electronics

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GreenFactor, an ongoing global technology and environmental research initiative, finds that consumers are getting more savvy about green and are demanding that electronics brands provide more clear information about their products’ energy savings, as well as sustainable materials, and shipping and production methods. The GreenFactor survey was conducted by Strategic Oxygen and Cohn & Wolfe during Sept. and Oct. 2008.

“There is a global green ethos emerging with global definitions for how consumers see green. This is one of the few worldwide trends Strategic Oxygen research reveals for marketing as a whole.”

The primary findings of the survey of more than 10,000 adults in 12 major markets around the world include:

• “Saving energy” ranks first in importance to U.S. consumers considering green electronics (54 percent); “design” (5 percent) is near the bottom of the list of attributes and “image” (4 percent) is dead last.
• The number one barrier to green sales of consumer electronics in the U.S. is “lack of awareness” (53 percent) – that is, brands are not adequately educating consumers on the energy savings and other environmentally-friendly aspects of their products. The number two barrier to purchase is “price” (45 percent).
• Consumers say they rely heavily on information on a product’s “packaging” (33 percent), a “brand’s web site” (32 percent), and “independent brand comments online” (28 percent) rather than seeking green product input from “friends / peers” (13 percent).
• Consumers still are reticent to pay premiums for green gadgets: 57 percent say they do not expect to pay premiums and are not willing to pay. Only 15 percent of consumers say they are expecting premiums and are willing to pay.

“We’re seeing green trends globally, and it’s shocking how consistent consumer needs are worldwide for information about green electronics,” said Michael Gale, CEO of Strategic Oxygen. “There is a global green ethos emerging with global definitions for how consumers see green. This is one of the few worldwide trends Strategic Oxygen research reveals for marketing as a whole.”

Green Brand Leaders

According to the GreenFactor research, only a few brands have achieved global green recognition. Consumer perception of brands’ green leadership varies by region. For example, consumers in the United States have completely different ideas about green electronics than those in Japan. Dell, Apple, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard are identified as green leaders in the U.S. Japanese consumers prefer Japanese companies and say Panasonic, Sharp, Sony and NEC are leading green.

To understand “perception vs. reality,” GreenFactor cross-tabulated its findings against Greenpeace’s “Guide to Greener Electronics” which ranks the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TVs and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change.

This cross-tabulation reveals that the brands most associated with green do not necessarily adhere to the most green practices as defined by Greenpeace, in the case of Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple and Microsoft. In contrast, some brands, like Samsung and Nokia, are not getting credit with consumers for their green realities.

“When we compare GreenFactor results with Greenpeace’s assessments of consumer electronics brands it becomes glaringly obvious that many brands have consumers believing they’re investing much more into their green programs than is true,” said Gale. “Some companies, like Nokia, have an opportunity to better communicate their green initiatives to earn a higher spot on the perception scale.”

Green Priorities by Technology

GreenFactor research reveals consumer priorities for purchasing green electronics:

• The green-ness of High Definition Televisions (64 percent), Desktops (64 percent), Notebooks (63 percent) and Printers (60 percent) is very or somewhat important to consumers.
• Consumers are less interested in purchasing smaller green electronics, which may be perceived as consuming less energy to use and produce. GPS (51 percent), Digital Cameras (53 percent) and Media Players (53 percent) are at the bottom of the list of green priorities.

Green Barriers

When asked “What are the biggest barriers to adopting a green approach when buying electronics products?” consumers were fairly consistent worldwide. The top barriers were:

• Lack of awareness (53 percent)
• Price (45 percent)
• Lack of availability (20 percent)
• Do not understand the product’s capacity to save energy (13 percent)

Product design ranked at the bottom of both green barriers and priorities, demonstrating that for the consumers who say green buying is important, marketers should focus on making a product’s financial return on investment easy to understand. Otherwise, brands may risk accusations of greenwashing by making a less-green product look like one.

Green Communication

GreenFactor reveals sophisticated consumer evaluation and comprehension of brands’ environmental initiatives:

• Information on a product’s packaging (33 percent) is twice as important as a product’s design (12 percent) to consumers assessing technology green-ness.
• Brand web sites are twice as important (32 percent) to consumers as a source of information for a product’s green-ness than their friends / peers (13 percent).
• Important to brands’ prioritization of marketing resources, 54 percent of 25-34 year-olds say they are willing to pay more for green technology, while 23 percent of those 65 and older say a green electronics approach is not important to them.

“Technology companies have a significant opportunity to establish leadership as innovative and sustainable companies, and many of them are rising to the occasion,” said Annie Longsworth, Global Sustainability Practice Leader for Cohn & Wolfe. “Our research clearly shows, however, that there’s a disconnect between what drives consumer purchase and loyalty, and what consumer electronics brands are prioritizing and communicating.”

About GreenFactor

GreenFactor is a joint initiative between Strategic Oxygen and Cohn & Wolfe to illuminate green marketing opportunities and further strategic sustainability research on a global scale.

This study will be repeated and expanded annually. The long-term intent of the GreenFactor project is to build a progressive set of tools and frameworks that enable marketers to successfully position their companies’ green offerings. Additional materials and information on the results can be found at www.greenfactorstudy.com.

For the purposes of the study, "green technology" was defined as having efficient power consumption, recyclable/reusable packaging, recycling offers for older equipment, use of non-toxic materials, or making investments in future green concepts such as alternative materials.

Brands included in the study were Acer, AMD, Apple, Canon, Cisco, Dell, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Intel, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Motorola, NEC, Nintendo, Nokia, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, RIM/Blackberry, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Symantec (Norton) and Toshiba. Countries included in the study were Australia, Brazil, Germany, France, India, Japan, Mexico, People’s Republic of China, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom and United States.

Methodology: From mid-Sept-late Oct of 2008, more than 10,000 consumers were interviewed globally via web-based survey. Respondents were randomly selected based on purchase intent and recent history from a range of local country panels. They were paid varying cash levels depending on the difficulty in recruiting them and their incidence rate in the population. Respondents represented consumers, 18 years and over. Participants qualified for this survey by having purchased in the last 6 months, or planning on purchasing in the next 6 months, any of the following technologies: software for your home PC, smartphone or digital hand-held device, cellular telephone for personal use, desktop pc for personal use, notebook pc for personal use, high definition tv, GPS device, or wireless network for a home. Additionally, respondents had to acknowledge that they, or anyone in their household, did not work for the following industries: computing products, consumer electronics, mobile handheld devices, market research, or advertising.

*Statistical Significance: using a 95% confidence level.

About Strategic Oxygen

Strategic Oxygen is a marketing intelligence company that is committed to improving the effectiveness of marketing communications by applying scientific methodologies-based on customer-centric research. In 2007, more than $5.5 billion of the world's marketing communications spending was based on solutions derived from the Information Network Engram (INE), Strategic Oxygen's patent-pending decision-making tool. The INE engine provides highly accurate marketing direction for technology brands using information derived from ten countries and 25 technologies. Currently, the INE tracks customer preferences for more than 65 brands. Strategic Oxygen is a member of Monitor Group. For more information about Strategic Oxygen, visit www.strategicoxygen.com

About Cohn & Wolfe

Cohn & Wolfe is a strategic public relations agency dedicated to creating, building and protecting the world's most prolific brands. With offices around the world, the agency is committed to breaking new ground in the delivery of cross-channel media strategies, creative programming, and practice area excellence.

Cohn & Wolfe is recognized year after year by clients and the industry for excellence in creativity, client service, digital communications, media strategy, senior management and strategic counsel. Cohn & Wolfe also consistently ranks among the top "Best Agencies to Work For" in an annual, industry-wide employee survey. Cohn & Wolfe is part of WPP Group plc (Nasdaq: WPPGY), one of the world's largest communications services group. For more information, visit: www.cohnwolfe.com.

Editor’s Notes: Tables included show (A) GreenFactor Consumer Electronics Leaders and (B) Comparison of GreenFactor Perceived Leaders versus Greenpeace Rankings of Technology Brands.