In Red and Blue States, Are 'Green' Shoppers … Also 'Green' Voters?

Business Wire, Feb 27, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The colors red and blue always dominate during an election year. But this year, green is also showing up across the political spectrum as the presidential candidates look to leverage their positions on environmental sustainability to win votes.

Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee are making their cases to win Green voters. From developing plans to increase biofuels production and create clean energy jobs, to decreasing foreign oil consumption, each of the candidates have made environmental sustainability a priority in their campaigns.

Catalina Marketing, which prints targeted communications at checkout based on purchase behavior in more than 22,000 stores nationwide, recently conducted research into the Green shopper and wondered, "Do Green shoppers translate to Green voters?" Green shoppers were identified as individuals who made purchases from a list of products from leading brands promoted as eco-friendly between April 2006 and April 2007. A shopper's home state was determined by the location of the store where they do most of their shopping.

Where do Green consumers shop and will their state of residence have an impact on how they will vote in November? Results determined that the Democratic (blue) states had a higher than average proportion of Green shoppers than Republican (red) states. In establishing the states as red or blue, Catalina looked at the state voting records in the last three U.S. presidential elections and focused on the states that remained consistently Democratic or Republican.

The research did yield a few surprising results. For instance, the Democratic state of California - often seen as a healthy place to live - indexed at the average for the number of Green shoppers. California's neighbors, Oregon and Washington, both ranked well above the average.

Of the Republican states, Colorado and Alaska both ranked above average in their tendency to have Green shoppers, with Alaska beating out even blue states Oregon and Washington. The top five Green states most likely to have Green shoppers in order are: Alaska (red), Washington (blue), Oregon (blue), Colorado (red) and Vermont (blue). The states least likely to have Green shoppers, in order, are: Oklahoma (red), Alabama (red), Minnesota (blue), North Dakota (red) and Wisconsin (blue).

Not only are candidates seeking to win the Green voter, but major consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers are hoping to win the Green shopper. From environmentally friendly household cleaning products to new detergents specifically designed to work in cold water and use less energy per wash, brands are seeing the value in environmentally friendly products. Many large retailers have also launched their own organics and environmentally friendly line of private label products that meet the demand of Green shoppers.

The environmental sustainability trend isn't showing signs of slowing down and according to Catalina Marketing research on Green shoppers, green product sales have doubled since 2005, with an 82% increase in 2007 alone.

Catalina Marketing insights are derived from customer behavioral research based on their actual purchasing behavior, not surveys. Catalina has the ability to analyze customer segments and provide insights to its retailer and manufacturer sponsoring clients, enabling them to deliver relevant and targeted communications to specific consumers while preserving their privacy.

About Catalina Marketing Corporation

Based in St. Petersburg, Fla., Catalina Marketing Corporation (www.catalinamarketing.com) was founded 25 years ago based on the premise that targeting communications based on actual purchase behavior would generate more effective consumer response. Today, Catalina Marketing combines unparalleled insight into consumer behavior with dynamic consumer access. This combination of insight and access provides marketers with the ability to execute behavior-based marketing programs, ensuring that the right consumer receives the right message at exactly the right time. Catalina Marketing offers an array of behavior-based promotional messaging, loyalty programs and direct-to-patient information. Personally identifiable data that may be collected from the company's targeted marketing programs, as well as its research programs, are never sold or provided to any outside party without the express permission of the consumer.