Supermarket: a place for greenconsumption?

Abstract

Over the decades the concept of green consumption has been discussed with sustainable consumption, green behavior, eco-citizenship and sustainable patterns and lifestyles. Various environmental problems like global warming, pollution, shortage of natural resources and climate change threatened the sustainability of the environment and our survival. There is an increasing demand from scholars and society for the change of human behavior to help reduce the environmental impact. This study aims to investigate how supermarket influences the daily consumption in a sustainable way through the concept of green marketing in terms of green product management, green packaging, green promotion, green pricing, green logistics and green labeling. That means, a supermarket is not only a place to provide green products but also influence the culture of green consumption through the efforts of designing environmentally friendly facilities and strategies. In real life practice, there are constraints and challenges to encourage green consumption in the community. Through literature review, interview and surveys, the study investigates the kinds of products and facilities which have been used in Hong Kong supermarkets and consumers’ perception and knowledge of environmentally friendly products and services. Through exploration of overseas case studies, insights on common sustainable practices were identified and how overseas’ best practices can be adopted or modified in Hong Kong were discussed. The surveys with Wellcome/Three Sixty/MarketPlace by Jasons and the general public illustrate how supermarket can promote sustainable and green consumption in Hong Kong and the progress of achievement. The study ends with suggestions on how joint-efforts from the various stakeholders in the society can facilitate green consumption. These include public participation, green initiatives of supermarkets, price incentive, promotion and government’s support to encourage pro-environmental behavior.