How Many Consumers Are Green? How Many Could There Be?

According to BBMG, a marketing agency specializing in CSR-sensitive brands, consumers are becoming more conscious of the environmental and social impacts of the companies whose products they buy and almost nine out of ten Americans surveyed identify themselves as "conscious consumers". BBMG said of their late-November report: "Consumers are hungry for more information about the products and services that they choose in their lives. They want companies to be transparent about product attributes and ingredients, and honest about their impact on the environment and society."

On the other hand, another marketing agency, egg, puts the number of green consumers at fewer than 7 out of 10 consumers because of a sizeable group of sceptics, and the number of consumers who actually show in their buying practices a sensitivity to CSR practices of the brands they buy is down to 7-20 percent.

What is the truth? Probably some sceptics are dubious about CSR being used in purchasing because of a lack of easily available information. Similarly, the percentage of consumers who actually use CSR ratings of brands in their purchasing practices is much lower than the number who say they would act on it, because the information is hard to come by.

This suggests that the advance of CSR efforts requires more effort along the lines of alonovo, which puts CSR information in the hands of the consumer when buying online, and Shopping for a Better World, which puts the information in the hands of the supermarket consumer.