Overcoming Consumer Barriers to Purchasing Environmentally-Friendly Products

Harleysville, Pa. (June 2007) – The Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), the leading provider of strategic consulting, consumer insights and market research services for the health, wellness and sustainability marketplace, today expanded on key findings from their proprietary LOHAS Consumer Trends Database™, an annual study of the U.S. general population.

Many “green” consumer products and services are currently enjoying phenomenal growth rates within the $209 billion LOHAS marketplace. And media coverage of such topics continues to drive the market. NMI expects these trends to continue for the foreseeable future. Acceleration could also occur if a few present market barriers are addressed. Among LOHAS consumers - a primary target for green, socially-responsible and sustainable products - lack of availability, understanding about the product’s true environmental benefit, and cost prohibit some LOHAS consumers from buying more green products. Examining these barriers as identified in NMI’s LOHAS Consumer Trends Database™ provides the foundation for the development of marketplace opportunities.

Availability: Several bricks-and-mortar retailers have reacted to the unmet demand for LOHAS-related products and responded, such as Home Depot’s recent “Eco-Options” product line. In fact, in 2006 Home Depot sold 354,105,804 Eco Options products. Online retailers are in a somewhat more fortuitous position. They are able to serve customers regardless of location, and in theory are also able to carry a full line of products that fit with LOHAS consumers’ lifestyle. LOHAS consumers will indeed respond to the convenience of being able to buy their CFLs, Fair Trade coffee, and organic shower gel with one shopping cart. Whether in-person or on-line, strategies such as these make LOHAS products more readily available to all consumers and will spur an increase in product sales. Look for increased availability to accelerate in 2007.

Understanding: Many consumers have long been unclear about the benefits of eco-related products. One approach to addressing the education issue (and inherent skepticism) is to have an independent third party verify the claim, such as Energy Star, USDA Organic, or LEED Certified for example. Although LOHAS consumers are consistently the most aware of, and influenced by, this type of verification, such approaches appeal to many other consumer segments. Where third-party seals are not available for a particular product or service, companies may consider developing their own standard – for example, Timberland’s “Footprint Label” – a unique approach using the Nutrition Facts panel from a food/beverage product. Ultimately, the effectiveness of this approach will depend on consumers’ intrinsic trust in the brand itself. Those brands that consumers perceive as genuine and transparent will require less substantiation from companies. This goes well beyond a product/service and includes verification of the entire operations of a company and their respective environmental impact.

Cost: Finally, as with many products and services, cost prohibits approximately one-third of LOHAS consumers from buying environmentally-friendly products. Price points are perceived to be the biggest barrier to general population U.S. adults also. Whereby some price premiums are reality, many manufacturers have been addressing this issue. As market interest grows, economies of scale and increasing competition will continue to put downward pressure on prices, making LOHAS products more competitive with their conventional counterparts.

According to NMI Managing Partner Steve French, “The momentum of the LOHAS marketplace is reaching the tipping point. New products and services, media campaigns, and industry events, among other activities are being introduced every day. NMI predicts the LOHAS market will double in size by 2010 to $420 billion. This will, in part, be achieved by overcoming the barriers of availability, understanding, and cost – some of which appear to have already begun to diminish based on the dynamic and opportunistic nature of a multitude of LOHAS marketplace happenings.”

NMI's annual proprietary LOHAS Consumer Trends Database™, conducted since 2002, is the only vehicle that covers the LOHAS market across a broad range of attitudes, behaviors, product usage rates, lifestyle patterns, and trends in this marketplace. LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability and describes an integrated, rapidly growing market for goods and services that appeal to consumers who have a meaningful sense of environmental and social responsibility and incorporate those values into their purchase decisions. For more information, please visit the NMI website at www.NMIsolutions.com or contact NMI at 215-513-7300.


NMI is a strategic consulting, market research, and business development company specializing in health, wellness and sustainability. For more information on NMI’s proprietary research reports and services, visit NMI’s web site at www.NMIsolutions.com.