Just in time for Earth Day, various retailers such as H&M, Target, Gap Inc. and Ashley Furniture have gone out of
their way to reveal or promote new sustainability initiatives, designed to promote
more environmentally conscious decision-making among consumers and retailers
alike. The push for sustainability isn’t exactly new, but it’s a subject more
retailers are feeling comfortable — and even responsible for — bringing
up and promoting.
Just a few examples: Coyuchi
offers subscribers new towels, sheets and duvets every six, 12 or 24 months that
are sent back in “return kits,” and in turn, renews, upcycles or recycles the
products. Last year, Eileen Fisher
developed an integrated business plan from
design to distribution to reach its environmental goals by 2020.
Additionally, REI upgraded
its Used Gear site to help achieve product sustainability standards and
improve the company’s environmental footprint.
The RTP team
discusses what’s behind retailers’ ongoing shift toward promoting
sustainability, and shares steps they can take to further these efforts,
whether through their own commitments or the launch of new products.
Adam Blair, Editor:
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when thinking about sustainability as it relates
to an industry as large and complex as retail. Are the brick-and-mortar stores
energy efficient — and what would it cost to make them carbon-neutral? Does the
e-Commerce retailer use three shipments to fulfill a single order, wasting fuel
and packaging materials? Are the products themselves manufactured responsibly,
without sucking up resources and polluting the planet? On the other hand, because of their reach, retailers are
in a great position both to make decisions that are good for the planet, and to
educate their employees and customers about what they can do.
I agree with most of what the CEO of Grove
Collaborative told my colleague Debbie Hauss: “You don’t have to care about
sustainability to be a Grove customer; it just has to resonate as a connection
to the home you’re creating. If we went to market with a heavy sustainability
message it might feel too exclusive.” Hey, sustainability is — or should be —
everybody’s business.
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Glenn Taylor, Senior
Editor: Moves like Target’s Everspring household essential
brand launch are smart for retailers, plain and simple. Nielsen predicts
that the
sustainability market will reach $150
billion by 2021. Shoppers already spent $128.5 billion on sustainable fast-moving consumer goods such as food,
toiletries and other consumables in 2018. Millennials aged 21 to 34 are leading
this charge, with 75% saying they
would definitely or probably change their purchase/consumption habits to reduce
their impact on the environment — well ahead of Gen Xers aged 35 to 49 (46%) and Baby Boomers aged 50 to 64 (34%). Whether they truly mean to put in
the effort to improve the environment is another animal entirely, but it’s
clear they’re spending a lot more than previous generations on
sustainability-driven measures. Retailers would be silly not to follow this
trend given its popularity, especially since the youngest generation, Gen Z,
also appears to be following Millennials’ lead. There are already plenty of
execs with titles related to sustainability, but I assume that going ahead, retailers
will expand their roles to encompass even more of the business.
Bryan Wassel,
Associate Editor: Sustainability doesn’t just make sense from a moral
perspective — it’s also good for business. As executives from Coyuchi and
Eileen Fisher discussed during a panel at NRF, sustainability alone can’t
sell a product, but it can be the tipping point that makes a concerned shopper
purchase something they were already considering. Even from a purely
self-serving point of view, shoppers care about the political stances brands
take, and something like sustainability can make a difference in the world
without upsetting either side of the aisle. Additionally, retailers may want to
get ahead of the curve when it comes to greener policies: the New York City
Council has voted to pass the Climate Mobilization Act, which calls for stricter
emissions standards on large buildings, and these policies could affect
brick-and-mortar outlets.
