Saving the Earth, One Click at a Time - eco-friendly goods sold online - Statistical Data Included

American Demographics, Jan, 2001 by Rebecca Gardyn

Thanks to the Internet, even fair-weather friends of the environment can make a difference.

Today, helping to save the planet may be as easy as buying a sweater at J.Crew or a Madonna CD from Amazon.com.

At Care2.com, an e-commerce site devoted to all things environmental, 10 percent of revenues is donated to nonprofits, like Environmental Defense and the National Wildlife Federation, without any additional financial obligation to the consumer. Visitors to Care2 can buy eco-friendly goods from "green" merchants such as RealGoods.com at the site's Eco-Shop, as well as mainstream products from retailers like Gap.com. They can also generate donations by e-mailing friends, sending greeting cards, and using search engines to find information on green issues. Retail sponsors - who pay for banner ads on the site and on e-mails - pick up the bill, with hopes that some of Care2's young,

educated, wealthy, brand-aware visitors return to them as loyal customers. So far, the 2-year-old venture has raised almost $400,000 for green charities, and has 1.5 million registered users.

Who says environmentalism and consumerism can't co-exist? The fact that 98 million shoppers are expected to spend $105 billion online by 2003, according to eMarketer, is convincing some merchants, nonprofits, and consumers alike to at least concede the possibility that good could arise from sleeping with the enemy. The Internet has armed the busy, yet environmentally-conscious consumer - known by some as "light greens" or "greenback greens" - with a new method of environmental activism: shopping. Whether they buy from the expanding number of dot-coms specializing in enviro-friendly products, or frequent mainstream merchants through charity mall sites that donate a portion of sales to green causes, e-commerce is expanding the opportunity to "do the right thing" for Mother Earth. And for marketers trying to achieve consumer loyalty and retention, the Internet has provided a better way to target these customers. Says Jacquelyn Ottman, president of J. Ottman Consulting in New York City and author of Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation: "I wouldn't be surprised if we were able to broaden the base of green shoppers because the Internet is making it easier for them to get involved."

Eighty-seven percent of Americans say they are "concerned" about the environment, according to Environmental Research Associates (ERA) in Princeton, New Jersey. It is somewhere within this large group that the light green consumers can be found. Market research firm Roper Starch's 2000 Green Gauge Report defines them as greenback greens because they are more likely to open their pocketbooks than their day planners to save the Earth. While 59 percent of these consumers donate to environmental causes, and 90 percent buy products made from, or packaged in, recycled materials at least occasionally, just 6 percent regularly roll up their sleeves to volunteer.

Demographically, the light green consumer segment is very attractive to marketers. They are relatively young, with a mean age of 39. They are smart: 69 percent either have some college or are college grads, and 54 percent are executives/professionals or hold white-collar jobs. Thirty-eight percent have household incomes over $50,000 and 22 percent over $75,000. They are also Internet savvy - 67 percent have a PC, and 72 percent have gone online in the last month. This group is also predominantly female (62 percent), a plus for marketers, since women traditionally make the majority of household purchases, both online and off.

Lisa Bohne, 26, has been a self-described light green consumer for about five years. She recycles, takes her own bags to the supermarket, and buys organic produce and aluminum toothpaste tubes. But she doesn't classify herself as an activist and isn't quite ready to trade in her Gap jeans for hemp ones. While she's used the Internet to find general environmental information, she was unaware that green product merchants or charity malls existed on the Web. "Are there green books? Green Gap jeans?" she asks. "I'd love it if there were, and I would definitely buy them, even if the price was a little higher. Buying green is a personal value of mine, and I will pay to support that value."

Such sentiments from light green consumers are the driving force behind a slew of new e-commerce models giving marketers access to this group, while offering consumers easier ways to make a difference. Online charity malls like GreaterGood.com, ShopForChange.com, and iGive.com, allow customers to buy goods and have a small percentage of their purchase go to a philanthropy of their choice, green or otherwise. Then there are click-to-donate sites, like The Rainforest Site (www.therainforestsite.com), where clicking on a button automatically sends a donation to The Nature Conservancy, courtesy of merchants who pay for banner ads on the site. Other mall-like properties, such as EthicalShopper.com, GreenHome.com, and EcoMall.com, offer environmentally-friendly products, from chamomile shampoo to non-chlorine bleach. Also sprouting up are individual vendors, like DolphinBlue.com, which sells recycled paper and office supplies, and EcoBaby.com, which sells enviro-safe baby products.