Sunday, August 29, 2010

Green Innovation - Developing Green Products, Services and Customer Experiences

There is a lot of focus today on making products, services, and business practices more environmentally friendly. At the same time, there is also a lot of debate about the "green movement" and whether it is the best approach to engage customers.

There is a fundamental truth that often seems to get lost: the purpose of business is to profitably serve customers, and the way to do that is to meet a need or satisfy a want.

Some customers will consider green attributes as part of their purchase decision, some will not. Meanwhile, *all* customers want a product, service, or experience that addresses their core needs in the category.

Thus, if you design a solution to meet a need or satisfy a want, your product or service will likely be successful.

If you are able to design it in a way that minimizes environmental impact, you will also appeal to a segment of the market that values green attributes. The challenge for you is to determine if that segment of green consumers overlaps with your core target audience.

Consequently, it is important to understand your market across two dimensions: core product/service attributes, and green attributes. You can then determine whether the group of consumers who are both in need of your solution and have a green orientation is sufficiently large to justify a unique offer that combines elements of both.

Additional considerations include: potential regulatory initiatives that could force you to go green, competitors that are moving in that direction, and supply/distribution channel requirements.

So the best strategy is to approach your customer as you always have: understand their needs and wants, and you can be successful. Include environmental issues in that assessment and you can be successful and green.

By : Glennon_Franklin

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