Eco-attitudes and behaviours of annual, perennial and herb and vegetable buyers from four US states

Savvy marketers rely on the principles of customer segmentation and product targeting to more efficiently allocate scarce resources and effectively reach groups of consumers with similar likes, preferences or demands. Our objective was to identify and profile consumer segments with regard to their gardening purchases in order to determine whether there were differences in their eco-friendly attitudes and behaviours, such as recycling. Researchers collected plant purchases, recycling attitudes and behaviours, and preferences for eco-friendly containers from 763 consumers in IN, MI, MN and TX. A cluster analysis based on plants purchases yielded three consumer segments: Low Use, Woody Plant Buyers and Herbaceous Plant Buyers. There were some differences with regard to recycling behaviours among consumers in the three groups including recycling aluminum drinking cans, newspapers, magazines, use of energy-saving bulbs and composting yard waste.