Survey: Consumers want ‘green’ products

NATION

Survey: Consumers
want ‘green’ products

NEW YORK — Consumers are ready to hold corporations liable for bad eco-faith. American consumers are increasingly interested in save-the-planet products, said a recent survey, and they want to see companies live up to “green” promises.

Americans surveyed overwhelmingly want to buy energy-efficient and eco-friendly products and support fair labor and trade, so long as price remains low and quality high.

While 66 percent of respondents cited quality as the most important factor when deciding when to buy, followed by price with 58 percent, attributes such as a product’s country of origin, how energy-efficient it is and its health benefits were all more important to consumers than convenience. BBMG partnered with research firm Global Strategy Group to conduct an unscientific online survey of more than 2,000 American adults in September.

Book chronicles life on
entry-level retail staff

NEW YORK — Business journalist Alex Frankel chronicled his adventures working the customer-service front lines at five separate retail chains over two years in his new book, “Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee.”

From a stultifying stint folding sweaters and manning the fitting room at a 37,000-sq.-ft. Gap store in San Francisco to riding shotgun for UPS during the rush of pre-Christmas delivery season, Frankel mined his entry-level retailing months for clues to corporate brand identity and its influence on employee performance.

“Each of these places has a different kind of person that matches the culture and what [the chain] is doing,” said Frankel. “In each place, even though I might not have prospered or loved it, I always found at least one person who was doing great and fit in perfectly.”

He found, for example, Starbucks’ efforts to be a community’s public space undermined by constant employee turnover and a lack of thorough training — but his supervisor thrived and he said her dedication inspired him.

In Frankel’s experience, Apple seemed to seek out store employees who were already lovers of the brand and whose enthusiasm, bolstered by on-the-job training, drove their ability to sell — whereas Gap’s stagnant product line failed to excite most employees, and, apparently, customers. At the time Frankel worked for the apparel retailer, in 2005, the company’s brand was foundering and profits diving.

Most people customize
their cars, survey finds

NEW YORK — Not all consumers add flames and neon lights to their wheels, but most personalize their cars through some kind of modification, according to a recent survey from Consumer Reports.

More than three-fourths of consumers ages 18 to 34 and 74 percent of 35-to-50-year-olds personalize their vehicles, while 68 percent of drivers 55 and over change their cars.

The auto tuning trends cuts across gender lines too, with 70 percent of women and 77 percent of men doing it.

“The car-customizing tradition is as old as the automobile itself,” said Jeff Bartlett, deputy editor for autos at www.ConsumerReports.org. “The common perception is that the only modifiers today are young men, but the fact is, making a car uniquely your own is an equal-opportunity indulgence.”

Consumer Reports surveyed 855 adults nationwide whose households own at least one vehicle.

Associated Press