The 5th Industrial Revolution is now beginning; society is perceived as containing super-smart persons who are able to access, understand, categorize, and confirm information by themselves using the Internet. In this case, individuals pursue different values, which thus affects their choice of products. Industry 5.0 underlines the values of living standards, creativity, and high quality, custom-made products.
Since the 2000s, consumers have begun to become more concerned about the environment and choosing products that are environmentally friendly. This consumer behavior also encourages companies to create marketing strategies that show the company’s concern for the environment (Boztepe, 2012). This tendency towards environmentally friendly attitudes has resulted in the development of the green marketing concept (Peattie & Crane, 2005). Marketing that considers environmental sustainability is a new development in the marketing area, and is a strategic and potential opportunity for there to be a multiplier effect both for consumers and businesses (Manongko, 2011). According to Nagaraju and Thejaswini (in FuiYeng & Yazdanifard, 2015), companies are slowly implementing green marketing activities in their various programs as part of social awareness, which is required to reach potential consumers concerning green marketing messages. Nowadays, companies intentionally communicate how they combine sustainability into marketing functions and business practices (Raska & Shaw, 2012; Royne et al., 2011). The way a company communicates that they care about the environment is referred to as a green marketing strategy, which is part of marketing communication.
Green marketing strategy promotes environmental quality based on waste management, energy efficiency, and reduced release of toxic emissions (Maheshwari, 2014). Polonsky (in Mahmoud, 2018) defines green marketing as an attempt of companies to design, promote, adjust prices, and distribute products in ways that promote environmental protection. Polonsky’s statement supports the argument that green marketing is also part of marketing communication because it covers the element of promotion. The implementation of green marketing strategy also manipulates four marketing mix elements, which are sometimes referred to as the 4Ps: price, product, place, and packaging, to sell products and services (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008). Similarly, several sources mentioned that green marketing contains green price, green product, green promotion, and green place (Govender & Govender, 2016; Mahmoud, 2018).
Companies that produce their products in an environmentally friendly way have a better image in Indonesia, because the company is considered to care about environmental sustainability (Haryadi, 2009). The goal of companies that use green marketing is to distribute products that are not harmful to the environment, while actively encouraging consumers to support and protect the environment (Stern & Ander, 2008). According to Chen and Chang (2012), green marketing increases consumer purchase intentions. The intention to buy is the conscious plan of an individual to make an effort to purchase something (Spears & Singh, 2004).
Data show an increase in purchase intentions due to environmental issue promotions. In fact, in 2014, a Nielsen survey reported that 65% of total global sales were generated by brands whose marketing conveys a commitment to social values and/or the environment (Nielsen, 2015). In addition, Korean cosmetics are a new trend, as the growth of Korean cosmetic and skin care purchases in Indonesia has increased 5.8% since 2013, beating growth in the United States (3.9%) and Great Britain (2.1%), as noted by Mitel market research institute (Kementrian Perindustrian, 2013).
In Indonesia, the Central Bureau of Statistics noted that imports of Korean cosmetics and skin care products reached $5.9 million US in 2016 (Putri, 2017). The Global Demand Survey for Green Feature in Skin Care Products in 2016 shows that Indonesia ranks highest in demand for organic, natural, or ethical and environmentally friendly skin care products, with 60% of Indonesians indicating that they consider these factors when purchasing these products (Shahbandeh, 2018). Innisfree is one of Korea’s beauty products that is quite popular in Indonesia. Innisfree is a cosmetic and skin-care company claiming that all of its products use natural ingredients from Jeju Island. Innisfree brand sales globally in Q3 2017 also rose 6.5% to 1.3 trillion won (approximately $1.07 billion US). Even in Indonesia, in two years, Innisfree has been able to control 4.6% of the Indonesian beauty market.
This study focuses on Innisfree since they committed to be a natural brand that is environmentally friendly by carrying out a green campaign since 2003 called the Green Life Campaign (Innisfree, 2018). Innisfree routinely runs four major global campaigns each year, namely Play Green, Clean Jeju, Bottle Recycling, and Eco Handkerchief. One of the green campaigns carried out in Indonesia is Eco Handkerchief, which includes green marketing elements that can be assessed from the standpoint of marketing communications campaigns. The Eco Handkerchief campaign was first launched in 2010 to commemorate Environment Day (Innisfree, 2018). The main objective of this campaign is to invite consumers to reduce the amount of tissues used by replacing them with handkerchiefs out of concern for the environment (Fajriana, 2018). Each year, this handkerchief is released with different themes and designs. This limited edition product is packaged in an attractive design according to each Play Greeners’ character. In addition, to perform the campaign, Innisfree collaborates with famous celebrities and illustrators.
In 2017, Innisfree opened its first outlet in Indonesia, which also participated in the #PlayGreen Eco Handkerchief limited edition campaign in collaboration with South Korean singer Jay Park in June 2018 at the Innisfree outlet. Products in the Eco Handkerchief limited edition collection are Green Tea Seed Serum, Green Tea Seed Cream, Green Tea Balancing Skin EXr, Green Tea Sleeping Mask, and My Palette Small Case, along with its non-campaign products, the Eco Handkerchief handkerchiefs. These limited-edition products cost started from Rp. 200,000 ($14US), and the handkerchief price started from Rp.350,000 ($24US). The Eco Handkerchief Innisfree campaign also promotes using Instagram, including sharing campaign videos, holding prize quizzes, and other activities.
Instagram is one of Innisfree’s green marketing promotional tools used in the Eco Handkerchief campaign. In this study, by focusing on the use of Instagram, respondents were chosen from Innisfree Instagram followers, who are aware of the Eco Handkerchief campaign. Coupled with the results of the We Are Social survey in January 2018, Instagram is the third largest form of social media based on number of users (38%), after YouTube (43%) and Facebook (41%) in Indonesia (Kemp, 2018). In this case, potential Indonesian customers mostly used Instagram to find out information related to products. Therefore, Instagram is an appropriate form of social media to use to understand public attitudes (i.e., purchase intention). Respondents for this study were Innisfree’s account followers, who are appropriate for this research because they were the target of the campaign.
Prior research suggests that green marketing positively influences purchase intention (Chan, 2001; Delafrooz et al., 2014; Dwi et al., 2015; Mahmoud, 2018; Rahbar & Wahid, 2011). A green marketing mix consists of environmentally friendly products, premium prices, green distribution channels, and environmental friendly promotions. However, not many companies or marketers are able to design all the components of a marketing mix optimally, thus this study will focus only on green products promoted on Instagram. Although studies on the influence of green marketing toward purchase intension exist, as noted above, we are unaware of any studies examining the effect of green marketing on purchase intention for skin care products in Indonesia. In particular, purchase intention as a public attitude will be examined. Therefore, the research question is: To what extent does green product marketing affect purchase intention?
Literature Review
The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines green marketing in social marketing as developing and marketing products designed to minimize negative impacts on the environment or to improve environment quality. Govender and Govender (2016) mention that green marketing elements include green products, green prices, green places, and green promotion.
Green products are defined as products that are produced using toxic-free materials and environmentally friendly measures, and which are certified as such by recognized organizations (Kumar & Ghodeswar, 2015). Green products are products that respond to environmental needs and requirements. To improve and develop products, customers’ need for a safer product and healthier environment are important and must be considered (Hashem & Al-Rifai, 2011). In business, the terms “green products” and “environmental products” are usually used to describe efforts to protect or enhance the natural environment by saving energy and/or resources and reducing or eliminating the use of hazardous agents, pollution, and waste (Singh and Pandey in Mahmoud, 2018). This idea affects consumer preference of products and thus is considered an influential aspect of purchase intention.
Kinnear and Taylor (1996) mention purchase intention as part of consumer behavior prior to the consumer making purchasing decisions. According to Ferdinand (2002), purchase intention is a mental statement from consumers that illustrates the plan to purchase a number of products belonging to a particular brand, whereas Kotler (2005) says purchase intention is something that arises by itself after receiving stimuli from the products a consumer sees, then raises the interest to buy it in order to have it. According to Ferdinand (2002), purchase intention can be identified through the following indicators:
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Explorative interest is the behavior of someone who is looking for information about a product of interest to support the positive characteristics of the product.
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Transactional interest is the tendency to buy a product.
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Referential interest is the tendency to refer the product to someone else.
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Preferential interest is the behavior of someone who has a primary preference for the product. This means that consumers prefer a certain product compared to other similar products.
This study identifies the effect of the green product marketing on purchase intention. The research framework is presented in Figure 2.
Methods
Explanatory quantitative research was conducted to understand the relationship between green product marketing and purchase intention through the Eco Handkerchief Campaign by the Instagram account @innisfreeindonesia. To do so, a survey using a Likert scales were used.
Two variables were measured: green product marketing and purchase intention. Based on Mahmoud (2018), the green product marketing contains indicators of toxic-free products, environmentally friendly products, and certified products, whereas purchase intention consists of explorative interest, transactional interest, referential interest, and preferential interest.
In this study, the population used was all followers of the @innisfreeindonesia Instagram account, totaling 198,357 accounts as of January 10, 2019. Instagram was chosen because it is the most popular social media in Indonesia for promoting, as well as looking for information, about products (Kemp, 2018). The followers were chosen because the company uses Instagram, and Instagram is the main media to promote the Eco Handkerchief Campaign. A direct message with the survey invitation was sent via Instagram to randomly selected @InnisfreeIndonesia Instagram followers January-February 2019. Over the course of the month, approximately 30 additional followers were invited daily until 100 complete responses were collected. By limiting the number of invitations sent at one time, we reduced the chance that our messages would be marked as spam and increased the chances of reaching a more representative sample of Instagram followers who may check Instagram at different times over the course of a month. Partially completed surveys were discarded. We used the Slovin Formula in sampling to determine the number of responses needed to get a 10% margin of error (See Figure 3). The Slovin Formula required 99.94 responses were needed, which was rounded to 100. Therefore, the researchers collected 100 responses from Instagram followers of @innisfreeindonesia. The data analysis used was simple regression.
Results and Discussion
The results can be generalized only to people with similar characteristics as the respondents. As shown in Table 1, the majority of respondents in this study were age 21-25 years old (79%). At this age, most Indonesian young people are in their 3rd - 4th year of a bachelor’s degree, starting a master’s degree, or starting to work. People in this age group belong to Generation Z and tend to be heavy users of mobile devices and spend a lot of time on social media (Brannan, 2019). It explains why they choose Instagram to be a source of information since Instagram was first developed for smartphone users. Moreover, Brannan (2019) identifies members of Generation Z as value-driven people who identify a cause, such as environmental issues. In this case, marketers care about what they do and are concerned with, thus they would like to engage with them.
Most (98%) of the respondents were female. Innisfree might not limit the market to only female consumers, yet the Instagram accounts of @InnisfreeIndonesia have more female talent as the content. It may explain why more female respondents participated. Therefore, @InnisfreeIndonesia should consider showing more male talent promoting products to attract male followers and consumers.
A regression equation was used to determine the form of the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. By using SPSS for Windows version 21.00, we created the regression model seen in Table 2.
The results of the regression analysis showed that green products have a statistically significant influence on purchase intention. Having a green product is one of the dimensions of green marketing. Green product variables were measured using three indicators, namely toxic-free products (X1.1), environmentally friendly products (X1.2), and products that have been certified (X1.3).
As explained above, green product variables have three indicators, namely toxic-free products, environmentally friendly products, and products that have been certified. The emerging Industry 5.0 shows that consumer preference for a product is also influenced by value. Focusing on skincare products, many products available promote natural or organic-based ingredients. Besides, many of them promote an environmentally friendly product, such as no animal testing (certified by PETA), and recycled packaging. Similar products are available since more consumers demand those products, which are acknowledged as safer for long-term use.
Currently, many female consumers in generation Z consider not only the amount they spend to get the product to benefit their body but also the environment. When considering whether a product is worth buying, they think about how well both the ingredients and the package preserve the environment. The goodwill gives more value. Thus, consumers consider green product purchases to be better than common products that lack those specific values.
The consideration or interest in purchasing can be elaborated more based on the indicators measured. Some of these three indicators may be attractive values offered by Innisfree; thus, potential consumers consider buying their products. Purchase intention can be identified through the following indicators (Ferdinand, 2002):
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Explorative interest
This interest illustrates the behavior of someone who is looking for information about a product that supports the positive qualities of the product. The results show that 55% of respondents agree that they seek information about Innisfree Eco Handkerchief products, especially information with a positive tone to support their interest in the product.
There are positive qualities described by the eco handkerchief offered by Innisfree. Consumers consider that the use of the handkerchief will contribute to decreasing the use of disposable facial tissues. Thus, it gives a more positive score for the product.
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Transactional interest
Transactional interest is a person’s tendency to buy products. The results show that 59% of respondents were interested in buying Innisfree products after seeing the Eco Handkerchief promotion on Instagram. In addition, 54% of respondents indicated they would buy Innisfree Eco Handkerchief products. The difference of percentage shows that the regular products get more positive attention rather than special products. Consumers became interested in the product through the campaign.
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Referential interest
Referential interest is one’s tendency to refer a product to others. The results show that 54% of respondents would recommend Innisfree’s Eco Handkerchief products to their friends. Consumers tend to seek positive confirmation from their circle about a product they are interested in. They do it by talking about the products with others, to see how others respond about the products.
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Preferential interest
Preferential interest describes the behavior of a consumer who has a primary preference for the product over similar products. The results show that 41% of respondents says that Innisfree Eco Handkerchief Products were their first choice compared to other similar products. The value of environmental friendliness makes it a preferential product.
It can be concluded that once people consider environmentally friendly issues before buying a skincare product, they will look for toxic-free products, environmentally friendly products, and products that have been certified. Thus, potential consumers tend to seek information to set expectations about the product they want to buy, make it a priority over other products, and even more, to refer the product to others.
Green purchase intention is the goal of consumers or actual purchases of products or brands that are environmentally friendly, so they are aware of their green attributes (Oliver & Lee, 2010). Ali (cited by Mahmoud, 2018) shows that someone who has a positive intention to buy a green product shows a higher level of actual purchases than people who have low intentions or no intention of buying a green product.
Conclusion
In this study, the quantitative analysis showed a positive correlation between Green Product and Purchase Intention. It can be concluded that once people consider environmentally friendly issues before buying a skincare product, they may seek to identify the product as toxic-free, environmentally friendly, and certified. Thus, potential consumers tend to seek information to set expectations about the product they want to buy, make it a priority over other products, and even more, to refer the product to others. The results of this study can only be generalized to Indonesian females, 21-25 years old, identified as Generation Z, who are followers of @InnisfreeIndonesia.
Therefore, for future research, it is suggested to explore more about green marketing variables, promotional media, and different groups of potential consumers. Potential consumers in Indonesia as a developing country may be different from consumers in a developed country, as well as different from the consumers of Generation Y or Alpha (future potential consumers). In addition, future surveys should include respondents who are non-followers of official accounts. This will also likely be related to what media they prefer to use to collect the product information. Since Industry and Society 5.0 is a new trend, these ideas should be explored in future studies.
Biographical Notes
Wayan Weda Asmara Dewi is a lecturer in the Department of Communication Science, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia. She graduated with her master’s degree from Universitas Brawijaya as well. She has conducted research on the topics of marketing communication, communication to preserve the environment, and social media.
She can be reached at Department of Communication Science, FISIP, Universitas Brawijaya, Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145 or by e-mail at wedaasmaradewi@gmail.com.
Fitria Avicenna is a lecturer in the Department of Communication Science, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia. She graduated with her master’s degree from University of Twente, the Netherlands. She is interested in conducting research on the topic of digital marketing communication, communication for community change, and consumer behavior.
She can be reached at Department of Communication Science, FISIP, Universitas Brawijaya, Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145 or by e-mail at fitria.avicenna@ub.ac.id.
Maria Magdalena was graduated from the Department of Communication Science, FISIP, Universitas Brawijaya. She can be reached at Bali Rental Central, Denpasar Bali or by e-mail mariameydeline@gmail.com.
Correspondence
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Wayan Weda, Department of Communication Science, FISIP, Universitas Brawijaya, Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145 or by e-mail at wedaasmaradewi@gmail.com.
Date of submission: 2019-11-29
Date of the review result: 2020-02-24
Date of the decision: 2020-05-27