HomeTrend Forecast
Important Trends, Relevant news, Useful Tools and Interesting Facts
about the World of Housewares and Home Goods Marketing
From A.J. Riedel, Sr. Partner, Riedel Marketing Group

IMPORTANT TREND

IS AMERICA FINALLY GOING GREEN?

According to the Gallup’s Environment Poll, conducted Mar. 11-14, 2007, there has no substantial increase in environmentally related behavior among the general public in the past seven years.

About the same percent of Americans voluntarily recycle newspapers, glass, aluminum, motor oil, or other items now as did in 2000. The percent of U.S. households who have reduced their household's use of energy has remained virtually unchanged from 2000. The percent of U.S. households who bought a product specifically because they thought it was better for the environment declined slightly from 2000 to 2007.

The general population may not be making many changes to their environmentally related behavior but HomeTrend Influentials are. More and more HIPsters are purchasing environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient products. For example, quite a number of HIPsters say they have started using “green”, organic/natural, environmentally friendly, or naturally biologically-safe household cleaning and laundry products that they were not using a year ago. 64% of the HIPsters who purchased a new washer in the past year purchased a front load washer and 50% of the HIPsters who are planning to buy a new washer in the next year are planning to buy a front load washer.

HIPsters are the bellwether for the mainstream population. They believe that “green” environmentally-friendly products, use of renewable/sustainable materials such as bamboo, and energy-efficient products are some of the hottest home trends for 2007 and beyond. More and more HIPsters are embracing environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient products and very soon the mainstream population will embracing those products as well.

Retailer Home Depot and home builder KB Home are betting that when it comes to building materials, consumers are going green.

Home Depot recently announced that it is labeling more than 2,500 products with its “Eco Option” label to help shoppers more readily identify building products that are easier on the environment. To be an “Eco Option,” the products must either meet Home Depot’s definition of environmental soundness or get the thumbs-up from an independent environmental auditor.