Green Packaging Marketing Strategies in Digital Microbusinesses: A Cyberphenomenological Study of Shopee-Based UMKM In Indonesia

Purpose – Green marketing in digital marketplaces has evolved beyond product features into symbolic arenas where sustainability is constructed, contested, and consumed. This study aims to explore how consumers interpret and respond to green marketing claims through digital aesthetics, community validation, symbolic coherence, and ethical affectivity within a leading e-commerce platform. Design/methodology/approach – Using a Cyberphenomenology framework combined with Manual Data Analysis Procedure (MDAP), this qualitative study conducts an immersive digital ethnography of the Shopee marketplace, focusing on the Aneka Paperbag account. Data were gathered through visual observation, screenshot documentation, and consumer review analysis over a three-month period. Thematic coding was performed using the Gioia methodology to identify symbolic dimensions of green value. Findings – The study identifies four core symbolic propositions in digital green marketing: (1) Green as Digital Aesthetic, where eco-claims are inferred through curated visuals rather than material proof; (2) Social Validation as Trust, where consumer belief relies on collective testimony rather than brand authority; (3) Symbolic Fragility and Greenwashing, where inconsistencies between claim and practice cause dissonance; and (4) Ethical-Affective Resonance, where emotional and moral motivations drive green consumption. The findings highlight a semiotic shift from empirical validation to symbolic immersion in consumer meaning-making. Originality/value – This study contributes a novel symbolic-interpretive lens to sustainable marketing scholarship by integrating Cyberphenomenology and semiotic consumer theory in a marketplace context. It expands green marketing discourse from rational persuasion to emotional-symbolic legitimacy, offering both theoretical insights and practical implications for ethical branding in digital ecosystems.