Product and Price over Green-ness

September 22, 2007 at 5:04 am (ECONOMICS OF GREEN FASHION, GREEN BUSINESS CONSIDERATIONS)

Indigenous Designs adopted the strategy of high quality product and price over promoting their ‘organic-ness’, and they appear to have succeeded in gaining market share. Even though their products are fully organic and adopt fair trade practices, they choose not to harp on this message in sales and marketing. Organic materials and fair trade business practices are essential components of the business; however they have found that those qualities do not yet drive consumer choices. As such it is more strategic to provide and sell on a great product and price, than on green-ness. By gaining market share, one is then in a better position to sell consumers on the green-ness factor. When it serves their benefit, ID mentions that the products are full organic and produced through fair trade practices, and this can be a terrific final selling point.

Some day maybe our marketplace will be driven by green-ness, but in the meantime, until that happens, it appears that strategic marketing approach of companies like Indigenous Designs is the way to go. Once a buyer has the product, they may be more likely to embrace the eco paradigm, but data suggests that consumers still largely purchase clothing on look, feel, style and price.

clipped from online.wsj.com
Indigenous Designs Corp. prides itself as a truly green supplier. Its women’s clothing is made from all-natural, sustainable materials, such as organic cotton, silk and alpaca. It adheres to strict fair-trade manufacturing practices overseas, runs its U.S. corporate office on solar power and encourages employees to bike to work.
It’s all about the product, but P.S., there is this story behind it,” says Scott Leonard, Indigenous Designs’ chief executive and co-founder.
These tactics and endurance highlight a sometimes overlooked truth in the fast-growing, much-ballyhooed green market: As much as consumers say they crave ecofriendly products, if those products don’t look good, don’t fit right, aren’t durable or aren’t priced competitively, then customers probably aren’t going to buy them in droves.

  blog it

Share/Save/Bookmark

Comments

  1. karine said,

    September 23, 2007 at 2:08 pm

    There is a range of products that came from Madagascar currently on display at the fourth largest department store in the UK. Actually, there is nothing wrong with the products themselves as they were manufactured to the highest possible standard by a small and old cottage factory that provides a means of subsistence to 250 extremely poor families in Antananarivo.We have all heard about buyers squeezing suppliers on price but what follows must be the jewel on the crown. The products were ordered and taken possession of last year by a London-based buyer, who even claims to hold a fairtrade license, and todate the factory has not been paid a single penny despite the fact that this buyer is being begged on a daily basis.

Post a Comment