"Talking green" with your customers means understanding their businesses and their business needs. Last winter we found two resources to help you talk green with the
corporate finance folks and the
HR people.
Today we've got one to help you dig into the retail segment. While the recent survey and report,
Real-World Green: The Role of Environmental Savings in Retail conducted by
Retail Systems Research, generally focuses on green IT, there are some valuable insights about sustainable strategies and tactics that can apply to printed materials.
According to
RSR:
Cost reduction remains the primary motivator for retailers of all performance groups, but Retail Winners (those retailers whose sales are already outperforming their competitors) give equal weight to the brand‐building potential of an eco‐friendly strategy.
They recognize that customers expect them to act more so than do their under-performing competitors, are more interested in lowering their carbon footprint, and are much more in tune with creating the image that they care.
They associate environmentally sound practices with their brand image to consumers and the industry, and associate these practices with their ethical responsibility to the community in anticipation of stealing market share as the customer’s green demands grow.
Eco-savvy consumers are pushing retailers to cut waste, reduce energy usage and evaluate product packaging. And retailers are taking action! They are more motivated than ever to implement environmentally sound practices.
When you're ready to start a conversation with your retail customers, try one of these opening questions/comments offered by
Appleton Coated in
The Green Outlook 2009:
- We're seeing more and more companies paying attention to the environmental impact of their printed materials.
- Look at this - new research is showing how fast the idea of "green" is being adopted.
- This sustainability trend is now more than a trend. I think we've got to take a look at it.
- We've been putting off recommending ways to make our communications "green" because we think it will add expense. But now we're seeing that they're not always more expensive - and where they are, there are ways to recover cost and/or add value.
