Major US Retailers Gauge Consumers Interest in Environmental Products

Nation's Largest Retailer & Home Improvement Chain Testing how interested consumers really are in the environment

Some interesting developments out of last week.  It seems a bit of a who can test consumers eco-tendencies first contest has arisen. 

Two major US retailers are trying to gauge just how interested consumers are in the environment and whether that interest will translate into dollars.

Last week Home Depot announced it was expanding its Eco Options label program from its Canadian stores into the US.  Eco Options is a label to help consumers easily identify what Home Depot considers environmentally friendly products in its stores.

Shortly after Home Depot's announcement the largest US retailer Wal-Mart launched a national advertising campaign highlighting its environmentally friendly products. 

Wal-Mart's 30 second television ads on national broadcast and cable stations that will be aired on such programs as the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and ABC's "Good Morning America", each feature a woman urging Wal-Mart shoppers to help the environment by buying low-energy light bulbs, organic cotton clothes or concentrated laundry detergent, which they say reduces packaging. (AP)

Print ads from the campaign appeared in Friday and Sunday editions of USA Today and The New York Times as well as other Sunday papers.

The environmentally friendly product ads are the first of their kind for Wal-Mart.

Home Depot concluded its Eco Options launch week by giving away 1 million CFL light bulbs at stores on Earth Day (April 22nd).  The company also unveiled its Eco Options website.

Comments

[vera]

It's funny...I was in Walmart yesterday looking for the odd chance that they might carry Fels Naptha but I didn't notice any particular eco-friendly items. When I was in the cleaning aisle, I saw tons of laundry and dishsoap...but no eco-friendly products.