¶ … Environmental Concern on Green Products Purchase: Empirical Study of German Retailers Evaluation of results

The analysis exhibits various results about the perceptions of German consumers with reference to green products. The findings have been able to achieve the research objectives and test the hypothesis based on the demographic characteristics of the sample population. The results reveal that all the sample population is well educated with 84% of participants have completed the graduate programs. Thus, the participant has advanced knowledge of health benefits of green products. They also have knowledge about the impact of conventional products on the environment, which influences consumer buying decisions of sustainable products. Larsson, & Arif Khan (2011) argue that green awareness motivates consumer's choice of pursuing the green criteria, and consumer's choice of product is also influenced by earlier purchases experience. When informed consumers decide to purchase sustainable products, they search for both primary and secondary information to make a wise choice. For example, informed consumers search for information from the internet or ask family and friends about the sustainability of products before making a buying decision.

Thus, the findings support that consumers have been influenced by their ability to identify sustainable products and their previous awareness of the environmental problems. Thus, it has been revealed that the perceived knowledge of consumer influences their buying decisions of green products, which has assisted in increasing the sales of eco-friendly products in German. For example, there has been 15% annual increase of consumption of the sustainable product in German in the last few years. Larsson, & Arif Khan (2011) argue that Europe and North America form 96% of eco-market globally and consumers in German are among the largest consumers of eco-products since eco-knowledge and eco-motivation influence a green purchase.

According to Triebswetter, & Hitchens, (2005) "the stringency of environmental regulations in Germany has been evaluated in cross-national comparisons to be above average in comparison to other industrialized countries. This is also reflected in the environmental expenditure which reaches about 3% of German GDP." (Triebswetter, & Hitchens, 2005 p 734).

Thus, the findings reveal that consumers in Germans put high emphasizes in buying the eco-friendly electronic products because the electronic sector has initiated several green initiatives to reduce the impact of manufacturing on the environment, enhancing energy efficiency, implementing clean delivery systems and product design. In this regards, prices of items are not the issues with reference to the buying decisions because consumers are ready to pay more in order to buy the environmentally friendly products since consumers have already acquired knowledge about the impact of conventional products on the environment. In this regards, the findings show that consumer Purchase Intention is 15 out of 17 items where Declared Intention is 13 items out of 17 items. Thus, the results confirm that consumer will prefer paying the environmentally friendly products for the high prices rather than buying non-environmentally friendly products at cheap prices. Moser, (2016) argues that consumers pay more emphasize on the environmentally friendly products in German. While "price is one of...

While consumers may perceive eco-friendly products more expensive than conventional products, nevertheless, high prices are not a barrier to making a buying decision because consumer justifies their buying decision based on other gains they will derive from paying the eco-friendly products. (Olson, 2013).
Parsa, et al. (2015) confirm that consumers are less price sensitive when they have formed a high intention in paying the premium products, thus, most consumers are willing to pay premium prices for the environmentally friendly green products. Sammer and Wustenhagen, (2006) also declare that consumers are willing to pay 30% more than the normal prices for the energy efficient electronic appliance revealing that WTP (willingness to pay) is the major perceived driver for a consumption of green products. While green products may be expensive, however, consumers are still willing to trade off higher prices for environmental benefits.

Since the findings have confirmed that increasing number of consumers in German are ready to pay high prices to enjoy environmental benefits, business organizations could generate more revenue by offering competitive prices for green products. However, some small percentages of consumers may still be hesitant to trade high prices for environmental benefits, thus, businesses should offer discounted prices for a green product to achieve more competitive market advantages. Presently, awareness of environmental consciousness is high in Germany and businesses can take advantages of the present environmental consciousness to achieve competitive market advantages. Stolz, Molina, Ramirez, et al. (2013) point out there is a steady increase of environmental consciousness among German consumers in the last few years. The authors argue that perception of the green product is more advanced in German than many other European countries where consumers play emphasize on green products than conventional products. Thus, businesses should take advantages of high awareness of green products to launch marketing programs to make an increasing number of consumers to be aware of the health benefits of sustainable products. Moreover, business organizations can take advantages of the high level of awareness about green products to design effective communication that can dismantle the barriers to the sales of green products to achieve competitive market forces, which will assist in boosting sales. Typically, advertising and promotion strategies are the effective instruments to address the egoistic motives of some consumers and facilitating conditions that will assist consumers to purchase green products without additional efforts. Essentially, increased visibility, attractiveness, and conveniences can assist organizations to improve business images and make consumers to perceive an organization as a responsible business organization.

implications for Business Practice

The implication of the business practice is that it is high time for businesses globally to shift from manufacturing of a conventional product to the eco-green products because consumers are increasingly sophisticated in German and other European countries. Similarly, increasing number of consumers are shifting to green products based on the perceived benefits that can be derived from consuming the products. Thus, business organizations should make a sound business decision by focusing on producing green products and desist from producing products that may be harmful to the environment. Since consumers in Europe and North America are becoming sophisticated, thus, businesses should implement the eco-labelling program to achieve sustainable marketing objective, which will help in increasing consumer awareness about the sustainability of the product. Larsson et al. (2011) argue that eco-labelling is the effective marketing tool that can assist in…