Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

January 20 2011 | Shannon Bryant

Millennials are willing to pay a significant premium to buy green products. According to a Capstrat-Public Policy Polling survey released recently, 19% of the youngest adults surveyed say they’re willing to pay “significantly more” for green goods. That’s more than twice as many as any other age group.

Only 4% of those aged 30 to 45 are willing to fork over extra for green products, 7% of those aged 46 to 65 are willing to pay extra, and 5% of those 65 and over are willing to pay substantially more for environmental friendliness.

All that said, a majority across all age groups are willing to pay a little or significantly more for green products. When the two categories are lumped together, 56% of those surveyed are willing to pay more to go green.

Yet 47% of respondents said sustainability and environmental friendliness are “rarely” or “never” mentioned in their employers’ communications. Only 20% of respondents said sustainability was “frequently” mentioned.  However, 59% of consumers consider products’ environmental sustainability to be very important in their buying decisions.

Capstrat CEO Ken Eudy says, “…companies with a genuine commitment to the environment are missing a huge opportunity to promote this orientation – even with their own employees. Corporations could and should do more to communicate what they are doing to protect the environment.”

Other notable findings include:

• Men are less likely to pay for green…   52% of men say they will pay “no more” for a green product, compared to 32% of women.

• Democrats are twice as green…   Environmental friendliness is more important to Democrats.  11% of respondents identifying themselves as Democrats called sustainability the most important factor in purchasing decisions compared to only 4% of Republicans.

[Source:   Capstrat-Public Policy Polling.  Capstrat.  19 Nov. 2010.  Web.  12 Jan. 2011.]