May 27 2007

The environment raises other issues for retail

Philips Electronics is adding a green tick logo to products which offer significantly better energy efficiency than their closest competitor product. Meanwhile Tesco's plan to label products with their carbon footprint is proving more difficult than originally thought.

Philips' Green Flagship range is part of it EcoDesign programme which was launched in 1994, reports Marketing Week.

There are a number of environmental issues relevant to all retailers whether they operate online or across channels: namely transport, packaging and energy use (and that is before looking at the products being sold).

The issues which some retailers are trying to address are more of a PR exercise or are brought about because consumers think it is for the best. For instance, the latest differentiator amongst supermarkets is the plastic bag - if a bag isn't going to be reused and ends up in landfill then it's preferable for retailers to issue plastic bags and not paper ones but if they will be reused then paper is better.

Environmental issues are not straight forward and in some cases different aspects have to be weighted against each. As with the plastic bag debate do you want to tackle global warming or the current issue of landfill?

Tesco's plan to label every product with information relating to its carbon footprint is a big project and one which raises philosophical issues - is the methane emitted from a cow's belch included in the footprint of its meat? The Sunday Telegraph spoke to the academic at Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute who is working on the project for Tesco.

In the next issue of Internet Retailing magazine we will be investigating the environmental advantages of shopping online and what e-retailers can do to lower their impact. If you would like to comment please get in touch.

Emma Herrod