SMB Green Website Marketing

Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Posted by Brawlin Melgar

78 Percent of Online Shoppers Value Green-Powered Websites


- Today's websites can benefit from environmental practices
- Most online shoppers believe ecommerce companies should look to green service providers

Philadelphia, PA (March 25, 2009) - Web hosting company 1&1 Internet Inc. (http://www.1and1.com), today released research conducted in association with Wired Magazine which identifies the latest 'green expectation' from consumers- that virtual shops should now run more green operations.  The results show that the requirement for all companies to go green is growing, as the traditional methods of using less energy are only a start in the eyes of most consumers today.

 The 'SMB Green Study,' conducted by Wired Magazine and Vision Critical of some 543 US adults found that a green-powered website may be a deciding factor when selecting which retailer to purchase from.  Over 60 percent of people admit to being swayed to purchase from an online shop if the website identifies itself as using green energy.  Some 78 percent of consumers say that the environmental practices of even a virtual shop are important to them, and most consumers believe that all businesses should be environmentally responsible. 

The research clearly reflects a push from consumers to urge companies to take their green efforts to the next level, and use greener service providers. One way for ecommerce websites to achieve this is powering their websites from a green data center or servers using renewable energy.  Over 70 percent of consumers surveyed believed that using a green service provider is an acceptable way to put forth a 'green' image. 

Oliver Mauss, CEO of 1&1 Internet Inc., said, "Committing to minimizing their impact on the environment has a clear commercial advantage for all types of retailers.  By offering green web hosting at no extra cost, 1&1 offers an easy way for any website to run on green power."

                                                   The research also showed that two-thirds (67 percent) of American consumers are frequent online shoppers, making web purchases more than twice a month.  The amount of people shopping online has been growing exponentially, which presents a lucrative opportunity for many people setting up shop on the Internet.  The data suggests that choosing a green web host could potentially be a selling point that convinces online browsers to become buyers.  

1&1 is the one-stop-shop for web solutions, providing a high quality service with the security of our state-of-the-art green data centers and 24/7 technical support. 1&1's green efforts will save carbon emissions of over 30,000 tons of CO2 per year.

For more information on 1&1 Internet Inc. visit the website at http://www.1and1.com

1&1 Internet Inc.:
1&1 Internet Inc. is a subsidiary of United Internet, a profitable public company with a market cap of $2 billion.  1&1 was founded in 1988 and hosts more than 10 million domain names, while more than 55,000 servers run on the company's five state-of-the-art data centers.  1&1's global community is over 7.8 million customer contracts strong.  The company's U.S. headquarters is located in Chesterbrook, PA. For more information, please contact the company at http://www.1and1.com or 1-877-461-2631.   

[1] Survey of 543 US adults by Wired Magazine and Vision Critical via online feedback form 

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Christine Skiffington
US Public Relations, 1&1 Internet Inc.
701 Lee Road, Suite 300
Chesterbrook, PA 19087
TEL: (610) 560-1546
FAX: (610) 560-1511
press@1and1.com

[1] Survey of 543 US adults by Wired Magazine and Vision Critical via online feedback form