Editor Q&A: Is Sustainability Moving Into The Retail Mainstream?
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.
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.