In my last post I was hoping that this economic downturn (meltdown, recession, depression or nom du jour you prefer) does not proportionately affect socially responsible consumption. So I was happy to read the results of a survey by Green Seal that showed the majority of consumers are buying as many or more green products as before. It was also heartening to read that consumers are becoming more savvy about seeing through greenwashing.

Consumers Still Buying Green Through Economic Changes

By GreenBiz Staff
February 9, 2009
Most consumers have not cut back their spending on green products, according to a new survey.

The 2009 National Green Buying survey by Green Seal and EnviroMedia Social Marketing found that half of consumers are buying just as many green products now as they did before the economic downturn began. An additional 19 percent are buying more products than before, and 14 percent are buying fewer green products.

When asked what the main factor is when making purchasing decisions, the amount of consumers that said a product’s reputation mattered most (21 percent) was followed closely by word of mouth (19 percent) and brand loyalty (15 percent).

Only 9 percent said that green advertising is the primary influence on their purchase choices.

The survey revealed a few other issues related to green advertising. About one in three of those surveyed said they do not know how to tell if the claims on a green product are true, with only one out of 10 consumers trusting product claims no matter what.

Some consumers are taking the initiative to ferret out the truth behind some advertisements, with 24 percent saying the read packaging to understand more about claims and 17 percent researching online or looking at studies.

Consumers were also asked which green actions they make, with the grand majority (87 percent) saying they recycle. Almost the same amount look for minimal packaging (60 percent) and buy green cleaning products (58 percent), and 31 percent buy green personal care products.

Conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, the telephone survey questioned 1,000 consumers. Details of the survey were announced at the Greenwashing Forum at the University of Oregon on Feb. 6.

This week, Elephant Pharmacy, a local chain and green business pioneer that was a neighbor and one of World of Good’s earliest customers went out of business. Unlike your average, sterile big-box pharmacy, Elephant Pharmacy had great service and was a shopping pleasure. Billed as the future Whole Foods of pharmacies and with it’s “the pharmacy that prescribes yoga” tagline, Elephant Pharmacy was a World of Good staff favorite.

These are difficult times for most companies and especially tough for the higher-end stores in each market (like Elephant) as consumers cut back on expenses everywhere. Given that consumption is falling (not necessarily a bad thing for the planet and everyone on it in the long term) my hope is that, now more than ever, people will want to maximize the positive impact of spending their limited dollars i.e. buying organic, local, fair trade. So while we will miss Elephant, I hope that as a whole companies that are green, socially responsible etc. are able to stand out and thrive despite the economic downturn.