Green marketing impact on a company’s success

: studying the case of Patagonia

Abstract

The increased demand for products with low environmental impact has increased the number of green marketing campaigns released during the last years. However, the impact of green marketing in companies’ performance is not clear. It mainly depends on the company’s characteristics and the perceived honesty of their green claims. Thus, the present study aimed to analyze the impact of green marketing in a particular company, Patagonia. Patagonia is recognized as a pioneer in corporate environmentalism. Besides, several certifications attest the company’s efforts to reduce its environmental footprint as sincere. An online questionnaire assessed individual characteristics identified in the literature as profiling green consumers. This was answered by 112 Patagonia’s consumers and 91 non-consumers familiar with the brand. Results indicated that the characteristics profiling green consumers seem to predict well whether a respondent is a consumer of the brand or not. Indeed, Patagonia’s consumers are more similar to green consumers than others. Thus, their purchases are driven by environmental values. As environmental products with greater exposure are likelier to be purchased by green consumers, the present study concludes that Patagonia’s green marketing campaigns are contributing to the company’s success. However, it is also highlighted that green marketing mainly affects Patagonia’s consumers’ decisions, when choosing between companies with comparable quality. Indeed, quality is the first driver influencing consumer’s choice over Patagonia.

Date of Award	25 Oct 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Boris Durisin (Supervisor)