Eco-Friendly Shops Are More Popular

When it comes to customers, they consider many different and often personal factors before deciding to shop with their favourite brand. In recent decades, public awareness of environmental issues has created a notable shift in the marketplace. Customers are now leaning towards purchasing sustainable, green and organic products, and are actively searching for stores and manufacturers who operate through the use of environmentally friendly methods.

Being conscious of your business practice’s environmental impact is not only of benefit to the planet itself, but in many cases it can help your business to save on costs, and even work towards increasing your sales, as your considerate behaviour will not go unnoticed by customers. In today’s retail environment, consumers are willing to pay more for products and services that come from brands that are committed to making a positive social and environmental impact.

Whether you are in charge of a small shop, a restaurant or a large retail chain, there are always ways that you can demonstrate your business’ awareness of the environment. Read on to learn about some small changes in this regard that could make a huge difference to your business.




Start simple

It’s old but it’s gold. Offering plastic bags to your customers while claiming to be eco-friendly isn’t a sound strategy in anyone’s books.t. Switch to paper or 
recyclable bags
wherever possible. If you are a small retailer, you might even want to manufacture and sell your own branded 
cloth bags
, adorned with an attractive, clean design. A move like this also helps you to create brand awareness locally. 

If you can manage it, skip paper entirely by offering e-mail receipts and storing office documents digitally but if you have to print, make sure to use 
eco-friendly paper
. In Erply POS, you can choose to either print receipts or send 
online invoices
 to your customers via email.

Your green and local products

Going green doesn’t necessarily mean that you must restrict your business to selling nothing but products made with organic material. Customers know that this approach isn’t realistic for many businesses, but just having a few environmentally conscious products in your range of stock is still a positive way to showcase your environmentally aware vision and commitment. One popular way to set up this kind of initiative is to build a “green
products corner”
 in your shop? The products here can be related to the service or product you provide in any way. The important thing is to offer a 
variety
 to your customers, all the while pushing your brand’s green credentials. In the meantime, reconsidering your supply chain and starting on a long-term transition to eco-friendly products is not a bad idea, and no, for the majority of businesses, it is 
not
 impossible. As mentioned, seek out suppliers who are environmentally conscious, and which offer products that are made with renewable and recyclable materials.

Supporting 
local businesses
 is important for both the economy and for the environment. Producing products with local materials decreases your brand’s carbon footprint and increases the sustainability of both your business as well as your community. 

 

Behind the Scenes

Becoming an eco-friendly shop takes time, and it could be expensive when you first start to make the change.. In an already-tough retail environment, it’s not an easy road to start on, it’s an endeavor that requires commitment – but it’s one which ultimately will lead you down the road to attracting new customers and basking your brand in a positive light. 

Away from products themselves, there are a lot of small but important changes you can make in store to cultivate a more eco-friendly environment. Switching to energy efficient light bulbs and encouraging existing vendors to ship products in less elaborate packaging are just two examples. If you run a grocery shop or have a restaurant, you should pay a lot of attention to what happens to food that would otherwise go to waste. Could it be donated to a local charity or homeless shelter? Or otherwise, rather than throwing it away destined for landfill, does your locality provide a service to take it away and turn it into compost? 
You might also try to find creative ways to encourage your customers to create less waste in your restaurant, like offering boxes for them to take away uneaten food to be finished off at home.

Many businesses leave cash registers, computers, etc. on day and night. Eliminate the unnecessary use of electricity by turning off your electronic devices when your business is closed. And on occasions when you are considering a redesign of your shop, try to figure out how its layout can function to provide the 
maximum amount of sunlight, which will provide warmth and light, reducing the need to knock on light switches or the heating.. If you would like to add a further touch of “green” to your shop and improve air quality at the same time, one easy to do to this is to place indoor plants under air conditioning vents.