Lisa Suttora's WhatDoISell Review

Eco Friendly Products: When Green = $Green$

By: Lisa Suttora, Founder/CEO WhatDoISell.com

Without a doubt, the most widespread and influential of all product trends in 2008 is the influence of green or eco-friendly products.
Green products are an influence in every product industry today.
By 2010, sales of natural/organic products are expected to reach 100 billion dollars annually. A 50 billion dollar increase from today's sales.
Let's look at a few examples of product categories that now feature eco-friendly or green products:

• Furniture
• Soaps and skin care products
• Clothing
• Pet supplies and accessories
• Baby products, clothing and toys
• Mattresses, sheets and blankets
• Home appliances
• Cars and accessories
• Solar power systems for home
• Garden accessories
• Cooking equipment
• Footwear made from sustainable materials such as soy-dyed jute to water-based glues and dyes.
• Eco-friendly/energy saving consumer electronics. Top brands are now looking at ways to make traditional "energy hogs" such as big screen televisions more energy efficient.

The range of eco-friendly or green products that are now available in the marketplace is huge. And it's growing every day. Prices range from a $15 reusable grocery bag to solar panel systems for houses that are priced in the several thousand dollar range.

Consider the recent "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" craze that hit the US.
London designer Anya Hindmarch created a reusable bag for groceries that simply stated on it "I'm not a plastic bag."
Made of canvas, it became instantly in demand when it caught on with a few celebrities and it became widely known that the bag was a limited edition.
The bag sold out in hours. (And then was resold at prices upwards of $300 on eBay.)

While this bag was more of an event than a trend, it does demonstrate how an awareness of green products has hit mainstream America to the point where a simple canvas bag can become an overnight superstar.
No matter what you sell, whether your store or website is eco-friendly or not… If you want to capture the interest of today's buyers you MUST include eco-friendly/green products in your product line.