Is there a market for green home furnishings?

The good news is that YES, there is.  Actually, over 80% of consumers polled in the United States said that they prefer to buy green products.  Currently, the leading green product segment is in Cleaning Supplies for the home with 80% of people saying they have already purchased green cleaning suppliers, followed by office paper at 50% and light bulbs. 

In home furnishings the number is a lot lower.  Only 5% of consumers have made green home furnishing purchases.  Which was only a bit higher than the 3% of consumers who have purchased high mileage or electric automobiles.  But, electric and high mileage cars are seen as the biggest opportunity for growth in the Auto Industry.

So, 80% of consumers polled are interested in Green Products, but only 5 % are buying it.

Why?  Over 45% said that there were not aware that green furniture was an option!  And another 25% said that green furniture is not available where they shop.  That is 70% of American consumers who have not been sold a green furniture product.  The key point to note is even if there are green furniture options, we are NOT selling them well.

Results are from the Sustainable Furnishings Council’s green consumer survey.

Two other important numbers from the survey, 20% of the people answered that the green furniture was too expensive and another 10% answered that the green furniture they saw was not their style.

As far as price goes over 50% of consumers questioned answered they ARE willing to pay 10-15% higher prices.  Is this possible?  I think so, see the Sustainable Sourcing Guide: Costs.

Right now, I want everyone to understand that an important part of marketing sustainable furnishings is that you really NEED to sell it.  Most consumers do not come to a store and ask, they either need to easily see or be told about eco friendly furniture options.

So, there appears to be a market for green home furnishings, so lets discuss some marketing strategy.

The first step is not to call it Green! 

A recent survey done on major keywords in the sustainable movement found that consumers prefer,

Environmentally Safe 27%
and Eco Friendly 24%

Other terms such as Eco Conscious, Sustainable, and Green were lower on consumers favorite list.

The key point seems that consumers like warmer words like Safe and Friendly, more than sustainable.

Also, being aware of what your customers are looking for in furniture is essential.  The most important issues are

Quality
Price
Style

Only 2% of consumers said eco friendly is the most important issue.  So, be aware when selling, Eco Friendly is a tie-breaking issue and not the major issue that will influence what a customer will buy.  But that sure does not mean that they are not interested, which 80% of consumers have already said that they are.  And this is a great way to start a conversation.

Also, think about marketing approaches.  One of the biggest misconceptions in the market place is that by selling eco friendly products consumers will stop buying the conventional products.

Coke learned this lesson the hard way.  After the 1st diet colas hit the market, Coke was afraid to have a diet version of Coke, because that may mean that Coke was bad for people.  They tried to launch Tab and a few other diet colas that failed.  Ultimately, Coke realized that Pepsi had not hurt their sales by creating Diet Pepsi and Pepsi had gained a large amount of market share, but Coke delayed for years before they launched Diet Coke, which immediately was a huge success.

Taking the same concept and bringing in and marketing green products will not hurt, but actually help improve sales.  Also, creating “green” incentives and marketing blitzes on Earth day are just a few ideas that could be used to generate more business.  Your customers say they want the product.  Why aren’t we selling it?

Another marketing strategy that office furniture companies like Herman Miller and Steel Case are using is targeting office construction projects using LEED standards.  Furniture that uses FSC woods, or have been Smart or Cradle to Cradle certified can be used as a credit towards achieving LEED – Innovation in Design Credit.  Recently, 22 state, 75 cities and 2 federal agencies required or encouraged projects to be built at LEED standards and in China there have been quite a few new projects being built to LEED standards.

Children’s furniture is another potential market for environmentally safe products.  Parents are the most sensitive about the environmental and especially the safety of products they purchase.  After the last few years of toy recalls, consumers have lost faith in our supply chain.  Goods that are zero VOC and certified to be safe not only are better inside homes but they give extra comfort to families who want their homes to be free of toxic gases.

See Indoor Air Quality in our Environmental Overview

An important final note is that while we sit around and discuss and learn about this, the market is changing as we speak.  Home Depot and Lowes have both publically announced their intent to ensure their stores are using a majority if not entirely certified woods.  Also, a major furniture retail chain I know of also said they will make a similar announcement later this year.

Home Depot Enviornmental Milestones

Lowe's Launches Forest Protection Initiative