Industry news

Sustainability 2: How it works at retail

Live, walk and talk sustainability

Our customers have the time and money to be concerned about the environment and climate change and they expect and demand social and environmental stewardship from us, says Greg Scott of the Mountain Equipment Cooperative in Canada.

Although they are one of Canada’s biggest buying groups “we think big, but act small,” he says. “Each store and staff members are focused on community involvement.”

About 5% of their stock are their own brands, and they only select other brands that share and compliment their product sustainability.

In order to eliminate product wastage, they make sure that they give excellent advice and that their customers make the correct purchase. “We understand our customers’ concerns and what influence their purchases.

“Our most important spheres of influence are our people, the products they buy and the places they play. Our staff feel responsible for their neighbours, as well as each other, and take pride in what they do — for example connecting the people to the right products.

They encourage their staff to use their products and to lead a healthy lifestyle. “Our job description is that they must be curious and understand the impact of what they do – and they must have a feeling of social and environmental responsibility.”

In order to reduce traffic, they position their stores within transport and cycling routes, and the store buildings are designed to be best suited to a specific location and are energy efficient with solar panels and wind power.

Because about 95% of all landfill waste comes from packaging, they recycle their packaging.

“We don’t sell green items or sustainability … we sell functionality in gear, but use lower impact materials and production techniques to reduce our ecological footrpint. Our guiding principles for sustainability are quality, durable, high performance products whose value is obvious.”

Scott believes transparency is critical and that stores need to communicate clearly what has gone into a product — for example, what dye has been used, what organic fibres, etc.

“We share common goals and initiatives with our broader market and we strive to educate and empower the consumers to understand that sustainability does not stop at the point of sale, but that it will continue at home with the washing or disposal of products.

They are also concerned about the environmental health in their factories, the wages paid and working conditions of migratory workers. But, he says, it is a challenge to ensure that the whole supply chain complies and that no banned substances are used in other brands.

They therefore became members of the environmental regulating Bluesign group. “They have the knowledge and connections and we decided to align ourselves with them and through them get our whole supply chain to move to sustainability. One cannot do it alone, it has to be a collaborative effort.”

People, communities and enjoying the environment

The sustainability of their retail group is based on three pillars: people, community and the environment, says Kevin Myett of the US consumer cooperative Retail Equipment Inc.

“Our people are our backbone and they are all committed to the outdoors and servicing our customers,” he says. “We also look after our employees by giving them paid sabbaticals and travel subsidies to enjoy the outdoors — many people work there just to get access to gear, which we encourage them to use so that they can become experts.”

They also extend this concern about worker rights to the people in their supply chains and try to ensure that all their suppliers have fair labour practices and treat their workers with integrity. “The North American Outdoor Industry has developed a toolkit that can be used by smaller brands on how to put fair labour practices in place.”

Because they consider children to be the future of the industry, they have developed community programmes to educate children about the environment. “Because we are so much part of the communities we work in, our employees work as volunteers in communities and can also nominate community projects deserving of grants.”

They also made a commitment to be climate neutral by 2020 — currently they source 2% of their products from climate neutral sources. They try and reduce the climate footprint by cutting down on travelling, or using alternative transport like cycling, or to have alternative work schedules that reduces traffic congestion. REI also uses recycled paper and recycle products in all their stores in order to reduce the use of landfills.

“When we asked our customers what’s important to them, they said they were the most concerned about product sustainability,” says Myett. “When we delved deeper we found that the most important factor for them was transparency – they want to know what the footprint of the product is and where it comes from. “They say they will spend more on a product if it is sustainable.”

Customers expect a role model

A retailer who nowadays wants to do business solely for economic reasons, will soon find out that he will not survive, says Andreas Bartmann, owner of one of Germany’s largest retail groups, Globetrotter.

“If a retailer is not committed to improving social and economic conditions in the community and is not transparent about where he sources products, he does not WANT to survive.”

Retailers have to reposition themselves strategically. “Travel a lot and visit different countries to see what they are doing. Get in touch with stakeholders around the globe,” he advises. “If brands think that you do not live up to your responsibility, they will not take you seriously.”

“You must approach your business in a manner so that you become a role model for consumers and the community. A small retailer can not hide behind its smallness, it can make a difference by linking to schools and community projects.”

Their company, for example, last year purchased a huge area in Puerto Rico to plant 60 000 trees in order to make up for the trees that had to be cut down for the paper and packaging they use. In Hamburg they set up professional meteorological stations in certain schools so that they can become weather observation stations, which will give the learners a hands on experience of the topic of climate change at a young age.

He acknowledges that the current tough economic climate could make it more difficult for some retailers to introduce changes — but he believes that consumers recognise and appreciate what Globetrotter does in order to be more sustainable.

“Customers have become more critical the last few years and keep themselves informed about environmental issues. We have found that our customers are now mainly concerned with the quality of products — if you try and draw customers by discounting prices, you will only lose in the long run. Consumers appreciate good quality… which was not the case ten years ago. All the brands we stock live up to this responsibility and our customers are willing to pay for it.”

The branded outdoor industry is committed to quality and durability, says Bartmann, not short-lived, cheap products that are thrown away after two washes. “Customers come to us with backpacks that are ten years old that they want to have repaired.”