Green & Design - May/June 2009 - (Page 18)

consumer Learning Curve Customers know green is good, but it needs a marketing push By Paul Rosta, Senior Associate Editor, Commercial Property News As sustainability continues to expand throughout the retail sector, an April 2008 study of shopper attitudes suggests that that going green can be both good citizenship and a potent marketing tool. However, the survey also indicates that retailers, owners, and operators have a lot of customer education on sustainability ahead. “It’s going to be a big push on our part and on our retailers’ part,” said Carol Sullivan, vice president of marketing for Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.’s West Coast operations. The firm commissioned the email survey study by Alexander Babbage Inc. in order to guide retailer and owner strategies at the 100-plus retail centers that JLL manages in the U.S. Demographically, poll respondents skewed female (89 percent), white (80 percent) and college-educated (44 percent graduates, 27 percent with at least some college). Nearly one-quarter of the 1,579 respondents said that they would go out of their way to shop at a center considered environmentally friendly and socially responsible. But 59 percent said that they do not make a special effort to visit a shopping center using green measures, even though they personally value those steps. The study found that shoppers’ willingness to make sacrifices for sustainability has its limits. Forty percent said that they would do what it takes to protect and improve the environment, even if they had to give up certain luxuries. But the majority—58 percent—agreed with the statement, “I will do my part to conserve as long as it does not affect my standard of living.” Nevertheless, the study revealed positive feelings about green measures that may provide retailers and owners with fertile ground to encourage sustainability at their properties. About 51 percent of the survey’s respondents said that they always recycle at home, 23 percent reported driving an energy-efficient vehicle, and 63 percent said that they 18 www.greenanddesign.com | May/June 2009 http://www.greenanddesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green & Design - May/June 2009

Green & Design - May/June 2009
Contents
Editorial
LEED v3: A Highly Evolved Solution
Book Review
Products
Learning Curve
Environmental Trends in Kitchen Design
The Butterfly Effect
Eastern Promise
Social Science
Retail Remedy
They Speak for the Trees
Up to the Challenge
Here Come the Lawyers
Green Gets Political
The Hardest Part of Being Green
Products: Designer’s Picks
Sources and Ad Index

Green & Design - May/June 2009

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