With this blog posting, GREC is launching a new primary content focus for 2010 and beyond: true sustainable retailing. The combination of economic, ecological, and social pressures have reached a tipping point where the retail industry has a responsibility to the global population, the environment... and itself to shift many long-standing ways of doing business to a model that is truly sustainable in the long term.
For too long, the focus on "sustainability" in retail has often meant "green"... but it needs to be something more. While ensuring that their operations are as minimally impactful on the environment as possible is an absolutely necessity for retailers, the truth is that there are many other areas where retailers need to improve the sustainability of their operations.
The origin of the focus on the word sustainability in modern times stems from the 1980s, when the United Nations stated: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This can be translated into retail in a similar concept:
One of the retailers who has both pioneered the concept of sustainability in a comprehensive way and turned a searchlight on itself in its quest to improve is Patagonia. As founder Yvon Chouinard has said: "It's always been difficult for us to lead an examined life as a corporation. I've always felt like a company has the responsibility to not wait for the government to tell it what to do, or to wait for the consumer to tell it what to do, but as soon as it finds out it’s doing something wrong, stop doing it."
Patagonia laid out a five step vision of what Yvon Chouinard called "corporate responsibility for planet earth:"
These five principles are key, and retailers - like every other industry - have a moral and ethical obligation to embrace the notion that there is more to their goals than to grow and profit and that as conservationist David Brower pointed out, "There is no business to be done on a dead planet."
But beyond the basics, retailers have both a special responsibility and a unique opportunity: to profit from their efforts to be sustainable by a stronger connection to their customers, a longer lasting and mutually beneficial relationship with suppliers, and an improved bottom line through more efficient and ecological operations. In short, retail - perhaps more than any other industry - can truly embrace and benefit from the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.
To support this vision, GREC is today launching sustainability as one of our two content focuses for 2010 and beyond, and to this end are embracing a comprehensive vision of sustainability for the retail industry. We'll spend a lot of time over the next year exploring and expanding this vision. We believe sustainable retailing to be composed of six key pillars:
We recognize that this is a big challenge, but anything worthwhile requires both ingenuity, innovation and hard work. Some retailers are already blazing this new trail, while other lag behind. But as an industry, we owe it both to ourselves and to our children who will someday push grown-up sized shopping carts through our aisles to ensure that retailers of the future will thrive in harmony with society and the planet.
The origin of the focus on the word sustainability in modern times stems from the 1980s, when the United Nations stated: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This can be translated into retail in a similar concept:
Sustainable retailing is retail that meets the needs of the present without compromising a retailer's future ability to meet its own needs - and those of its customers and ecosystem.
One of the retailers who has both pioneered the concept of sustainability in a comprehensive way and turned a searchlight on itself in its quest to improve is Patagonia. As founder Yvon Chouinard has said: "It's always been difficult for us to lead an examined life as a corporation. I've always felt like a company has the responsibility to not wait for the government to tell it what to do, or to wait for the consumer to tell it what to do, but as soon as it finds out it’s doing something wrong, stop doing it."
Patagonia laid out a five step vision of what Yvon Chouinard called "corporate responsibility for planet earth:"
- Step One: Lead an examined life. Most of the environmental damage humans cause is a result of ignorance. That ignorance is willful when we avoid confronting our problems, when we refuse to learn because we don’t want to have to act on what we know.
- Step Two: Clean up your act. Once you learn the environmental costs, try to reduce them. And when you can reduce them, you must.
- Step Three: Do your penance. No matter how diligent a corporation, it causes waste and pollution. Like any other responsible corporation, Patagonia should pay penance for its sins – while we work to figure out how to clean up our act.
- Step Four: Support civil democracy. It’s obvious that governments and corporations hold a lot of power, but so do small groups of people who care passionately about an issue and press their cause.
- Step Five: Influence other companies. The company that discovers new ways to be more environmentally responsible has an obligation to spread the word to others – to share the knowledge of what can be done.
These five principles are key, and retailers - like every other industry - have a moral and ethical obligation to embrace the notion that there is more to their goals than to grow and profit and that as conservationist David Brower pointed out, "There is no business to be done on a dead planet."
But beyond the basics, retailers have both a special responsibility and a unique opportunity: to profit from their efforts to be sustainable by a stronger connection to their customers, a longer lasting and mutually beneficial relationship with suppliers, and an improved bottom line through more efficient and ecological operations. In short, retail - perhaps more than any other industry - can truly embrace and benefit from the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.
To support this vision, GREC is today launching sustainability as one of our two content focuses for 2010 and beyond, and to this end are embracing a comprehensive vision of sustainability for the retail industry. We'll spend a lot of time over the next year exploring and expanding this vision. We believe sustainable retailing to be composed of six key pillars:
- sustainable business models, focused on maintainable growth rather than short term profits or volume at the expense of long-term viability
- sustainable relationships with shoppers that maximize both "customer lifetime value" and the long term loyalty consumers have to their favorite retail brands
- sustainable vendor relations, creating the opportunity for both retailer and supplier to profit and grow together
- sustainable community, supporting the local economies where we operate through featuring local products where possible, paying fair wages and giving back to the community, and co-existing in synergy and harmony with residents and other businesses
- sustainable sourcing, respecting both the natural resources required for production and the human labor expended to create the products sold in our stores, exploiting no one but instead using the power of retail and shopping to improve the human condition throughout the world
- sustainable retail operations, reducing the environmental and ecological impact of store and supply chain operations while simultaneously improving the profitability of the retail enterprise
We recognize that this is a big challenge, but anything worthwhile requires both ingenuity, innovation and hard work. Some retailers are already blazing this new trail, while other lag behind. But as an industry, we owe it both to ourselves and to our children who will someday push grown-up sized shopping carts through our aisles to ensure that retailers of the future will thrive in harmony with society and the planet.
Tomorrow, we have the unique and inspiring opportunity to hear Yvon Chouinard speak, and we'll be covering the event live on our Twitter feed. For anyone else who wants to hear from one of the most sustainable and inspiring retailers, here is Yvon Chouinard speaking at the University of California in 2008.
Melissa, Very interesting blogpost.
We agree that sustainable retailing includes the six pillars you outlined 1.business models, 2. relationships with shoppers, 3.vendor relations, 4.community, 5.sourcing, 6.retail operations
Our 30 years experience with retailers has enabled us to help them achieve all those goals using our patented Local Search & Rapid Order Fulfillment program. More on this on our blog http://thenowmall.blogspot.com
Posted by: TheNowMall | 30 November 2009 at 08:15 AM