This article originally published in Retail Customer Experience magazine, October 2008. Click here to download a free PDF version.
Customers at REI in Boulder, Colo., line up to check out in front of a huge mural of a rocky mountain. Outdoors enthusiasts, they have come inside looking for recreational equipment that will draw them back outside. The mountain mural is a symbol of the store's commitment to consider the outdoors, even indoors. That commitment extends beyond gear, to creating a sustainable building in which to sell it.
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REI's Boulcer, Colo. outlet features sustainable design materials, such as Solatubes for natural lighting and floors made from rubber. |
Customers enter the otherwise average strip-mall store under the natural light of the sun streaming through the glass awning. They may or may not know about the photovoltaics there that power many of the retailer's operations.
Families, hardcore backpackers and vacationers mill around in the
camping gear, perhaps reading the labels of products with sustainability in mind. Bargain shoppers ransack the rack of 50-percent-off shoes from companies such as Patagonia that are committed to the environment.
Upstairs in the store's 2,000-square-foot elevated community space, a dozen people interested in training for a fundraising race listen to a presentation of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society TEAM. The store uses the space to help educate customers on outdoor recreational opportunities in the area and to connect them to outdoor and conservation clubs and service projects that protect local natural spaces.
All of this activity in the store will mean a lot more activity out in the forests, parks and wildernesses for which REI supplies gear. REI is concerned about that impact, the conservation of forests and about the footprint of its retail outlets and the energy they use.
That's why when the Boulder store required a remodeling in 2006, REI determined to test the mettle of one of its environmental-stewardship priorities and create not just a better environment inside the retail outlet, but a better environment outside as well. Solatubes now funnel natural daylight throughout the store, saving 20 percent in energy costs. Collection panels gather solar energy to heat water for the bathrooms. New floors, perimeter walls, fixtures and displays are made from recycled and sustainable materials.
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For REI, marketing green becomes a natural extension of the good customer service for which the store is known. |
The store has become the example for all future REI store designs. According to REI, the Boulder store was rebuilt to test retail design and green-building concepts and to help the company make decisions on how it approaches store design and construction in the future. Already, another store with sustainable design is planned to open this fall in Round Rock, Texas. REI stores in Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and Pittsburgh also are designed around lower energy use and sustainable environmental practices.
Green is good business, too
As more consumers become concerned about the environmental impact of their consumption, retailers targeting eco-savvy customers are carefully following in some of REI's low-impact footsteps and creating retail environments that make people feel good by feeling green.
According to Wal-Mart consumer research, in 2007 customers at the big-box retailer increased their sustainable purchases by 66 percent over the previous year. The growth was seen by tracking customers' decisions to purchase one of five key eco-friendly products, such as organic milk and compact fluorescent light bulbs. More of these types of purchases point to an apparent growing concern for the environment, even among Wal-Mart's 200 million annual bargain-shopping customers. And that provides a trend indicator for American retailers at large.
More green purchases also drive the retailing trend to provide more green choices to customers. For Wal-Mart, making green both accessible and affordable was key to reaching its customers.
"Providing more eco-friendly choices at the best value is helping consumers and the planet live better together," said Stephen Quinn, chief marketing officer for Wal-Mart.
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Bamboo, a very sustainable resource, can be pressed into sheets and used for things like benches, walls and product shelves. |
Wal-Mart, REI and others are jockeying for a position in the "eco-sphere." It's one of eight retail trends for 2008, as compiled by trendwatching.com. The site said "with the environment finally on the agenda of most powers that be, and millions of consumers now actively trying to 'greenify' their lives, status in the eco-sphere is both more readily available and increasing in value."
According to Colette Chandler, an expert in consumer health and environmental trends and president of The Marketing Insider, some 40 million customers are looking specifically for healthy and sustainable companies that share their health, social and environmental interests and priorities.
"In the United States, these consumers make up a $200-plus billion (and growing) marketplace for goods and services," Chandler said.
Getting the green message across to customers
Chandler advocates marketing green to make the most of this customer base. It makes sense for retailers to let customers know how they are conserving natural resources, that they are LEED-accredited (if they are) and that they use recycled materials or recycle.
"I find that many businesses are fearful of talking about their efforts since they feel that they are not 100-percent green," Chandler writes. However, going green is more of an effort than an arrival, since even products made with green intentions often don't end up being the most environmentally friendly in the end. "The idea is to do the best that you can and don't pretend to be environmentally friendly if you are not. Green is a process, not an end."
Even at the greenest retailer in the country, not all products sold are environmentally friendly. At REI, those products that are environmentally friendly have tags with information and a link to REI.com/stewardship, where customers can learn about the store's commitment to clean water, air and land.
In addition, signs around the store tell customers about REI's commitment to the earth through low-flow water fixtures in the bathrooms, as well as waste receptacles that offer choices of "trash," "paper," "recycle" and "compost." (Bathroom paper towels are a must-compost item for the retailer.)
Furthermore, REI Boulder created a brochure and a walking tour during which signs located throughout the building highlight energy-efficient technology, sustainable or recycled materials and more.
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Going green is more of an effort than an arrival. |
"This tour is often led by employees when community groups visit the store," said Doug Ludlow, REI project manager for store development. "The brochure (printed on recycled paper) is provided as a takeaway item for customers or members (REI is a co-op) that want to learn more."
Environmentally friendly materials in various products in the store also are highlighted; they are integrated within product-education brochures for customers.
For customers, this information is much more interesting when it comes straight from knowledgeable sales clerks. For example, the Marmot EcoPro sleeping bag is listed on the product information sheet among dozens of other bags. Its fill is EcoPro recycled polyester. A small notation indicates it is made with environmentally friendly materials. However, the story from saleswoman Becca Wolt is that it is made entirely of post-consumer water bottles. The zipper is new, but the rest of the bag used to be bottles, she says.
Wolt has worked for about a year at the Boulder REI store, and she talks about REI's environmental stewardship to many customers.
"I feel like it kind of helps add to the spirit and goal of REI," Wolt said.
Most people who do notice something different about the green retailer point out the solar drum lights. Once people notice those, Wolt says she is excited to point out some of the other eco-friendly areas of the store. "I tell them that the floors are made of recycled tires," for example.
For REI, marketing green becomes a natural extension of the good customer service for which the store is known — first because many employees inspire and drive sustainable practices or ideas and secondly, because they talk about it to customers.
"One of our most powerful communication tools is our more than 10,000 REI employees across the country," Ludlow said.
Green publicity
REI also uses green to its advantage for publicity. The retailer got everyone talking about its new green store with publicity aimed at making customers aware of each store's efforts to reduce its impact on the planet. "We proactively communicate about these efforts," Ludlow said.
In addition to publicizing the reopening of the Boulder store last fall, REI also publicized the remodel as a green change. "We also devoted a page on REI.com to our green building design at Boulder," he said.
Rebecca Barnes is a freelance writer in Lafayette, Colo., and a contributor to Retail Customer Experience magazine.
