An Empirical Study on the Perception of Consumers about Green Products in Delhi

Green is the talk of the town. Every other day new strategies and technologies are being invented to fight the deadliest consequences of environmental degradation. The pace at which our Planet is being exploited and environmental problems are increasing, Green Marketing and Green Products have become a necessity. But this ‘green concept’ will only be successful when the awareness level will be high and perception is positive. In this paper perception of consumers about green products in Delhi is being studied. Is the overall perception negative, positive or neutral? Do they appreciate the packaging of green products? Or is there any correlation between perception and various demographic variables of consumers? All these questions are answered in this paper with detailed analysis. Structured and undis-guised form of questionnaire was prepared which was distributed to 120 respondents out of which 106 were found to be usable. Any sample above 30 is considered large. Statistical tools like mode, median, frequency distribution, Kruskal-Wallis and One way ANOVA are used to test the hypotheses. This paper will be beneficial to other researchers to get the insight of consumers’ perception about green products, to companies in making the right strategies and policies according to consumer perception and to other organization and insti-tutes who are interested in studying the consumer behaviour regarding Green Products.


Introduction
Consumer is the king. All the marketing efforts of the company are centred on consumers. Without luring the consumers towards the product no company can gain competitive advantage in the market. To grab the biggest piece of cake, it is important to make the first move. In the same way, if a company wants to capture the largest market share it needs to make a first move and thereby getting the first mover advantage. But in order to make the first move, company should know their consumers. They should understand their perception, attitude and awareness level so that policies should be framed accordingly. Green Marketing is relatively a new term as compared to traditional marketing. So the companies adopting green marketing strategies at the earliest are at better position than those who are not. Today, almost every consumer understand what 'green' is. What are the benefits if a company is green and what are the threats if a company is not? So, a company should always keep up with the changing times or will face the lash of consumers. To frame policies and new marketing strategies, the company should understand the perception of consumers towards that particular product. Whether they like the product or not? What all they like in a product? What all they dislike in a product? What makes them buy the product? What is their opinion about the product? Any company should know the answer to these questions before moving ahead with any action plan. This paper talks about the perception of consumers towards Green Products and Green Packaging.

Literature Review
Green Product often termed as those products or services that permits the development of economy while protecting resources for our future generations (Speer, 2011). No product is 100 percent green. It means that at one point or the other of PLC green product do have an impact on the environment and surroundings. But this impact is much less as compared to other traditional products. To further understand the concept of Green Products, one must understand what are the features or characteristics of Green Products. According to Bhatia and Jain (2013) and Chauhan (2011), green products are-"biodegradable, water efficient, energy efficient, low emitting, reusable or reused product, safe and healthy, durable, renewable, locally grown, certified from third party, contents under approved chemicals, not tested on animals and eco-friendly packaging." (as cited in . In a study by Mahesh and Ganapathi (2016), the factors affecting consumers' perception are attractiveness, quality, familiarity and environmental anxiety. And these factors have positive influence on the purchasing decision of the consumers for the green products. So, marketers should offer products that are tasty and have good appearance at affordable prices. Another study done in Sylhet found that there is not enough knowledge among people regarding green products and the consumption is low. Consumers are more concerned about the end-value of the product. Most of the consumers are more satisfied with green companies and activities they are involved in. Quality is their main concern when it comes to buying product at higher prices (Rumi et al., 2014).
Another study also says that price and product quality are the most important factors when it comes to brand loyalty and willingness to pay more for green products. This study found that female consumers and older age consumers are more likely to recycle than males and consumers between 25-31 years of age. Consumers in higher income group are willing to pay more for green products (Issacs, 2015). According to Green Trade and development (2008) consumers are bending towards eco-friendly products and their attitude and perception is also changing which in fact shows that they are conscious about their environment (as cited in Yusuf & Fatima, 2015). In their own study Yusuf and Fatima (2015), asserted that large population is of the view that green products are healthy for them and safe for the environment as well. They also think that green products are superior to conventional products. Also, green products give a good packaging design. In another paper it was stressed that message content for green products should be attractive so that young generation will buy them. Labelling should be done in such a way that it is easier to differentiate between green and non-green products. This paper also asserts that prices of Green products should be made affordable so that the consumers can easily buy those (Ranganathan & Ramya, 2016). A study by Renzai et al (2013) states that there is positive perception of consumers towards green. 85.7% think that the concept of Green can save the planet and most of the respondents feel that green can improve health and 79.3% feel good to go green.

To study the perception of consumers about Green Products in
Delhi.

To study the perception of consumers about the packaging of
Green Products in Delhi. 3. To study the relationship between perception and demographic variables like age, education and income.

Hypotheses
H1) Perception of consumers regarding Green Products is positive in Delhi. H2) Consumers appreciate the packaging of Green Products. H3) Consumers understand and believe in the information given on the packaging of Green Products. H4) There is a significant difference in perception among consumers regarding Green Products based on their education. H5) There is no significant difference in perception among consumers regarding green products based on their age and income.

Research Methodology
Data collection: A structured non-disguised form of questionnaire was constructed which was distributed to 120 consumers from Delhi. 106 responses out of this were found to be complete and usable for the study. Questionnaire consists of sixty items and is divided into five parts: Demographics, Awareness level about green products, Consumption pattern, Perception and Purchase Intention. This paper deals with perception of consumers about green products. The questions were categorical, ordinal, interval and continuous in nature. Some of the constructs were measured on a five point Likert scale. All the questions were closed ended. Secondary data was also collected through different websites and online journals and articles to form a strong review of literature. Various newspaper articles and books were also referred. Sampling Procedure: Random sampling is used to collect the data. The data is collected through self administered questionnaire by the researchers themselves. Sample was drawn from Delhi only. Different areas were selected and respondents were targeted on a pure random basis.
Data analysis procedure: Various statistical techniques are used to analyse the data with the help of a SPSS. Frequency distribution, Mode, Median, Kruskal-Wallis and one-way ANOVA is done to test the hypotheses and finding out the results.

Findings and Discussion
Demographic Profile of the respondents: The tables from 1 to 6 show the demographic profile of the respondents in terms like gender, age, income level, education, marital status and occupation. (See Appendix) The data shows that 52% of the respondents were males and rest 48% were female. 54% of the respondents fall under the age of 15-24, 35% in 25-34 and rest were above 35 years of age. 57% of the respondents have graduate degree, 36% are postgraduates and 2% are doctorate. This shows that more than 90% of the respondents have 15 or more years of education. Most of the respondents are unmarried. 20% of respondents fall in low income group, 57% in middle income group and 24% belong to higher income group. This shows that nearly 80% of the respondents can afford to buy green products. Nearly half of the respondents were students (54.7%), 41% were either self employed or doing job and rest were unemployed.

Reliability and Validity of the data:
For the reliability of the questionnaire Cronbach's Alpha was carried out. The value was .976 which means the questionnaire was reliable. Table 7 shows the Reliability Statistics.  .000 The value is .924 which means that the sample was adequate.

Perception of Consumers about Green Products:
For finding out the perception of consumers about green products they were asked to tick the choice on a Likert Scale which ranges from 'Strongly Disagree' to 'Strongly Agree'. 1 stands for 'Strongly Disagree', 2 for 'Disagree', 3 for 'Neutral', 4 for 'Agree' and 5 for 'Strongly Agree'. To test the H1: (Perception of consumers regarding Green Products is positive in Delhi); the following test was carried out. 82 respondents who were aware of green products were considered. The table 9 shows the mode and median values of the statements related to perception: Above statistics show that consumers 'Strongly Agree' with the statements 2, 3 and 9 as their modal value is 5 and their median is also 5. Consumers strongly perceive Green Products as 'Healthy' and 'Safe for Environment' and they 'strongly recommend' green products to others. 97% believe that green products are safe for environment and 91% perceive them as healthy product. Somehow, they are 'Neutral' about the statements 1, 4 and 7. They are not very sure whether Green Products are fashionable or have good taste and appearance. 73% are either undecided or disagree that green products are fashionable. 43% are not sure about the taste and appearance of the green products. 37% of the respondents are not sure whether green products are of the same price or not while 32 % disagree with the statement. Moreover, they 'Agree' with the statement that green products are costlier as it has the modal value of 4 as 47% either agree or strongly agree with it. This statement is backed by the fact that statement 'Green Products are cheaper' has a modal value of 2 which means that most of the respondents 'Disagree' with the statement. 53.7% disagree or strongly disagree with the statement that they are cheaper. Above findings show that consumers have strong perception towards green products. They strongly believe that green products are healthy, safe for environment and they also recommend green products to others. They think that green products are costly which again a fact is. Not all green products are fashionable and consumers also think the same. They are undecided only for a statement for taste and appearance. They are dicey to perceive something about it. This shows that consumers hold a strong and positive perception about green products and therefore H1 is accepted. See Appendix frequency table for percentages. Perception of consumers about the packaging of green products: Packaging of any product matters a lot. Packaging is important for the product to save it from the damages. It is easier to transport when packed. For some products it is necessary to pack them in layers in order to maintain their shelf life and the contents. Packaging creates tons of trash every year which goes to the landfills and incinerators. Green Packaging is the packaging of products in recycled materials or minimal packaging that effects the environment least. It should not create unnecessary waste that pollutes the environment. Consumers should buy products that are minimally packed or is packed in recycled or biodegradable packaging. Consumers' perception about green packaging is important in order to make the producers persuade to go for green packaging.
To test the second hypothesis consumers were asked whether they appreciate the packaging of green products or not on a five point Likert Scale. Table 10 and 11 show the following results:  It can be seen that modal value and median is 4 which mean that most respondents agree with the statement. Table 11 shows that 46.3% respondents agree that they 'appreciate the package' and 20.7% strongly agree with this statement. 67% appreciate the efforts of producers of green products to make the packaging green.
67% is a good number to accept the second hypothesis. Therefore, H2: consumers appreciate the packaging of green products is accepted. Furthermore, producers should increase the awareness about the pros of green packaging so that more and more consumers appreciate and buy the products with green packaging.
Understanding and Belief in the information given on the Packaging: It is not just the appreciation by the consumers that is sufficient but also the understanding and belief in the information that is given on the packaging of green products. Until and unless they understand and believe in the information they are not going to buy the product. So, to test the H3, consumers were asked to tick some statements on five point likert scale and following are the results:     Table 12 shows the median and modal values of the statements; 'enough information on the packaging', 'understands the information' and 'believes in the information'. The median and modal value for all the three statements is 4 which mean that most of the respondents agree with the statements. Table 13 reveals that 39% of the respondents 'agree' and 22% 'strongly agree' that there is enough information on the packaging about the green features or the greenness of the product. That means that they can make out from the package itself whether the product is green or not. With the minimal packaging, it is challenge for the producers to put all the information on the package but 61% believing that there is enough information is a good start to the makers. Table 14 shows that 46.3% 'agree' and 23.2% 'strongly agree' that they understand the information given on the packaging. 69.5% understand the logos and signs for eco-friendly products that are printed on the packaging. But only half of the respondents actually believe in the information given. Only 58% believe that the information given on the packaging is true. 28% are unsure about the reliability of the information whereas 13% think that information on the packaging is false and they don't judge a product to be green based on the information given on the packaging. Based on the data above, it can be concluded that consumers understand and believe in the information given on the packaging of a green product. This number can increase if producers get certifications of green and advertise it. Producers should try to find out the reasons that why consumers are sceptical about the truthfulness of the claim and then act accordingly. Their belief in the product is important to make them buy it. In a study by  it was found that the consumption of green products is low. And this might be one of the reasons that consumers don't buy it. But 58% is safe to say that majority believe in the information on packaging and therefore H3 is accepted.

Relationship between perception and demographic variables like education, income and age:
Besides knowing the perception of the consumers about the green products it is also important to know whether demographic variables like education, income and age have any effect on the perception. Do these variables play any role in formation of perception of consumers regarding green products? This question is very crucial to the producers as they need to frame policies and strategies accordingly. They should know the basis of their market segmentation or is there any need for market segmentation based on these variables.
To test the H4, Kruskal-Wallis is used. It is used when the dependent variable is ordinal or interval with one independent variable with two or more levels (independent groups). This condition fulfils here. Moreover, one can control the range of independent groups that are included for the test. For this test, the last group 'Doctorate' is excluded as it represents a very small percentage i.e. 2%. Table 16 and 17 show the results of the test.  The above test results reveal that there is no significant difference in the mean ranks except for 'safe for environment'. It also backed up the value of Kruskal Wallis test for 'safe for environment' i.e. 0.041 which is less than 0.05. For this test, if the p value is greater than 0.05, Null Hypothesis is rejected. So, H4 is rejected except for statement 'safe for environment'. Hence, it is concluded that there is no significant difference in perception among consumers based on their education.
To test H5, One Way ANOVA is used. It is used when the dependent variable is interval and normal with one independent variable with two or more levels. The condition satisfies here. The following table 18 shows the result for demographic variable income and perception: For this test, if 'p value' is less than 0.05, Null Hypothesis is rejected. But the above table 18 shows that all the statements bear a 'p value' which is greater than 0.05 and therefore H5 for income is accepted. It is for the statement 'green products are cheaper' the 'p value' is 0.051 which is at the edge of being rejected. That means when it comes to green products being cheaper there is a difference in perception based on income level but not the significant one. So, it can be said that there is no significant difference in perception among consumers based on their income level. Now for age, again one-way ANOVA is used and the table 19 shows the following results:

Conclusion
Perception makes all the difference. Consumers hold strong perception about green products but producers really needs to make green products tasty and good in appearance. If consumers are made to believe that green products are tasty, the consumption of it might go up. Green products are needed to be made fashionable.