Wal-Mart Says Demand for Green Products Up in 2007
04/25/2008
SustainableBusiness.com News
Wal-mart (NYSE: WMT) announced that its customers have increased purchases of the five eco-friendly products tracked in its Live Better Index by 66% from last year.
The retailer says this overall adoption rate, which measures sales compared to other products in the category, serves as a nationwide trend indicator of consumer demand for green products.
The data for April 2008 shows a 37% increase in adoption of organic milk and a 47% increase in adoption of compact fluorescent light bulbs since April 2007. The data for April 2008 shows a 37 percent increase in adoption of organic milk and a 47 percent increase in adoption of compact fluorescent light bulbs since April 2007.
Increases for each of the products over the last year are as follows:
1. Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs - Average adoption rate of 19.7% (up from 13.39% in 2007). Delaware leads the category with an adoption rate of 25.8%.
2. Organic baby food and formula - Average adoption rate of 4.12% (down from 4.31% in 2007). California continues to lead the category with an 8.58 percent adoption rate
3. Organic milk - Average adoption rate of 1.58% (up from 1.15% in 2007). Virginia has the highest adoption rate of organic milk at 2.7%
4. Extended life paper products - Average adoption rate of 67.5% (up from 50.77% in 2007). Minnesota has the highest adoption rate with 78.1%
5. Concentrated/reduced-packaging liquid laundry detergents - Average adoption rate of 76.3% (up from 22.86% in 2007). Oklahoma leads the category with an adoption rate of 96.3%
Wal-Mart plans to add new categories, including sustainable coffee and eco-friendly cleaning products--the retailer introduced Sam's Choice coffee and Clorox Green Works lines to earlier this month.