Development of a method to grasp the corporate profit contribution rate of eco-friendly products

Corporate environmental conservation activities contribute not only to direct environmental impact reduction, including energy conservation, resource conservation, and prevention of pollution at business facilities, but also to indirect environmental impact reduction in society in a wide sense, centered on customers, by considering the environment in the stage of product design and development. Further, in recent years, more customers have been motivated to purchase eco-friendly products and, therefore, development and marketing of eco-friendly products have also been directly influencing corporate profits. However, there is almost no method to evaluate the extent to which development and marketing of eco-friendly products connect to corporate profits. As such, Ricoh developed a method to calculate a profit contribution rate of eco-friendliness for each copier product by attaching eco-friendly points to respective machine models, according to levels of consideration to reduce environmental impacts, and by setting a profit contribution rate for each eco-friendly point. To set profit contribution rates (rates in profit), we researched the extent to which eco-friendliness is reflected in purchase motivation, using a questionnaire completed by customers who actually bought Ricoh copiers.