IMPACT OF GREEN MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CONSUMER PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS IN GWALIOR CITY

Abstract

Green marketing has moved from a niche positioning tool to a mainstream strategic response as firms attempt to align their offerings with rising consumer concern for the environment. Yet whether green marketing efforts actually translate into greener purchase behaviour, particularly in smaller Indian cities, remains an open empirical question. This study examines the impact of green marketing strategies on consumer purchase behaviour towards eco-friendly products among 100 consumers in Gwalior city, Madhya Pradesh. Using a structured questionnaire covering green marketing strategy perception, environmental awareness, green purchase intention, and green product consumption pattern, data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, simple and multiple linear regression, an independent-samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA. Green marketing strategy perception was found to be a significant positive predictor of overall green consumer behaviour (r = 0.73, R² = 0.537, p < 0.001), and this predictive strength improved further when environmental awareness was added as a second predictor (R² = 0.579). Female consumers reported significantly higher green consumer behaviour scores than male consumers (t = –2.29, p = 0.024), while no significant differences emerged across education levels or occupational categories. These findings suggest that well-designed green marketing communication, especially when it also builds environmental awareness, can meaningfully shift consumer behaviour towards eco-friendly products even outside India’s metro markets, and they point to gender-sensitive targeting as a potentially useful refinement for green marketers operating in the Gwalior region.