Greening consumption at the retail outlet: the case of the Thai appliance industry

Abstract

Over the decades, the Thai appliance industry has developed into a strong and export-oriented industry with rigorous strategies to improve the environmental performance of products and production. Leading producers have recently begun to develop greening strategies targeting the consumption behavior of consumers, materialized through the provision of green appliances, environmental information, and sustainable images and storylines. However, communication regarding green provision in the retail setting has been found to be passive and to not correspond with the orientation of Thai consumers. Consequently, it has been found to be difficult to empower and activate citizen-consumers to buy more sustainable appliances. For this situation to change, green communication strategies of providers must become more proactive by adopting environmental labels to discern green appliances from general appliances and by improving the environmental content of communications in a way that (re)establishes stagnant or even absent consumer trust in green providers.