Retailers are a huge part of stopping the climate crisis. As a Retail Coach with over 20 years of experience, it was always evident to me that educating consumers on purchasing products that are not harmful to the environment was way more difficult then teaching retailers how to order from their suppliers.
If retailers (who purchase for 1000's of consumers) can make informed decisions and avoid being greenwashed, they can purchase product that they can sell that has less of an impact on the environment. Only then can they inform their consumers. By then their consumers are only presented with 'better options' and would choose from those options.
The retailer also has the power to influence suppliers, who have the power to influence their manufacturers. Retailers are the key to speeding up the recovery process of repairing our environment.
The Ontario Single Use plastic ban is a perfect example of this. Retailers are the influencers. They leave their customers with little choices but condition them to bring bags from home, and just like that, Ontario has slowed down the dependency of oil, and single use plastic waste increase in landfills. Imagine if this was implemented sooner and the stores in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and other Canadian cities were leading the charge to stop the use of single use plastics. We would be in a far better place than we are now.
This Earth Day, ask retailers you know to learn more, and do more. It will trickle down to 1000's of shoppers faster than reaching each individual consumer.
Ofra Nissani
Business Coach and Advisor
