Abstract
Concern about the environment has led to a new segment of consumers called green consumers. Because not all the consumers are equally green, using target marketing for persuading them to buy green product is essential. The first step in target marketing strategy is to segment the market and then develop profiles of the resulting market segments. This study aims to identify distinct green market segments based on demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables and also investigate the relationship between each variable and green consumer behavior. This study uses self-organizing maps (SOM) to segment and then develop profiles of Iranian green consumers. Based on the results, four market segments have been identified and were named intense greens, potential greens, egoist browns, and intense browns based on profiles of consumers in each segment. The results of this study also indicate that the level of education and income together with egoistic value and environmental unfriendly habits correlate negatively with the greenness (intent and intense of green behaviors) of Iranian consumers and the age of consumers together with environmental attitude and knowledge, biospheric and altruistic values, and religiosity correlate positively.
Highlights
Increase of environmental pollution and damage, together with the increase in public concern about the surrounding natural environment, has so far influenced the purchase and consumption behaviors, and has led to emergence of a new group of consumers called green consumers [1, 2]
Even though there is no universally accepted definition of the green consumer [3], the most adopted is that green consumers or environmental friendly consumers are those who consider the impact of manufacturing process and consumption of environmental resources while making purchase or participating in other market related activities and make their decisions [4]
Green marketing and promoting environmental friendly consumption behavior are necessary in two ways: first, acceleration in the trend of exploitation and destruction of natural resources essential for human life such as water, oil, and forests is a serious threat for human being
Summary
Increase of environmental pollution and damage, together with the increase in public concern about the surrounding natural environment, has so far influenced the purchase and consumption behaviors, and has led to emergence of a new group of consumers called green consumers [1, 2]. Green marketing and promoting environmental friendly consumption behavior are necessary in two ways: first, acceleration in the trend of exploitation and destruction of natural resources essential for human life such as water, oil, and forests is a serious threat for human being. Consumer Behavior and Marketing destructive trend include population growth and detrimental consumption habits. This trend highlights the importance of encouraging people to promote environmental friendly or the so-called green behaviors [5, 2]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
