Green marketing: what the Millennials buy

Purpose – To develop an understanding of the Millennial Generation's consumption of green products. Specifically, our research sought to address the following two research questions in regard to this generation's consumption behavior: What product attributes have significant effects on purchases of green products? What are the primary reasons for not adopting green products? Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was administered to 197 undergraduates at a private university in the southern US. The sample was 59 percent female and ages ranged from less than 18 to 25. Full time students represented 95 percent of the sample. Findings – The findings suggest that when developing marketing communications, marketers may want to devote more attention to recyclability or re-usability, biodegradableness, and positive health effects stemming from eco-friendly product attributes, as these characteristics shared the strongest associations with Millennial intent to purchase green products. The results also indicate that the primary reason Millennials do not purchase green products is the belief that green products are too expensive. Research limitations/implications – To capture opinions of members of the Millennial Generation, the study used a sample of students at a private university which may not be representative of the entire population of Millennials. Since all participants were enrolled in higher education, there may be some relationship between education and green consumption behavior. Originality/value – This research offers marketers a richer understanding of this segments' consumption behavior of green products, in addition to highlighting important obstacles marketers need to overcome to transition non-purchasers to purchasers of green products.