GfK researches the green consumers with their Sustainable Consumer Monitor for Supermarkets

In cooperation with the non-profit organization Solidaridad GfK published the Sustainable Consumer Monitor. The Sustainable Consumer Monitor needs to become a guide for retailers how to apply sustainanable retailing.

The report shows that there are 3 different groups of sustainable consumers: open-minded, organics and demanding. The report states that in The Netherlands there are over 3,9 million households that belong to one of these groups (over 50% of the total number of households in The Netherlands).

The consumers that belong to the group openminded are interested in the animal welfare. Organic consumers think about the environment and the demanding consumers look at social equaility and honest retailing. This research is very interesting for the food retailers. When for example a supermarket attracts a lot of open-minded clients, the supermarket can offer a wide assortment of meat replacement products. A supermarket that has a lot of demanding visitors can offer more fairtrade-products.

The reason why these consumers purchase more and more green and fairtrade products is that they think they support the environment and the animal welfare.

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Wereldwinkels (WorldStores Netherlands) want to be climate neutral, sustainability and responsable retailing

By the end of the year the Wereldwinkel want to have hundred of their four hundred stores to be climate neutral. This announed the organization of Dutch Wereldwinkels at the World Fair Trade Day.

At the Fair Trade Day with a lot of different activities the attention is focused on honest retailing. The The European Worldshops do this with the campaign “Fairtrade, the right climate”. They explain the relationship between the climate and fairtrade. The formula of Wereldwinkels is 40 years old in The Netherlands, with now a total 400 stores in The Netherlands. 100 of these stores will start with climate neutral measurements, reducing the level of energy and use green electricity.

The aim of a Wereldwinkel is to sell as many products as possible. High turn-overs mean higher turn-overs for the producers. Some other aims of this formula is:
- Improve the life quality and welfare of the producers
- Possibilities to development for the producers
- Consumers education on the effect and the advantages of fair-trade

www.wereldwinkels.nl

Green Retailing in the Netherlands is booming

n The Netherlands you see the trend that despite, or maybe thanks to, the crisis, that green retailing is hot. For some important Dutch retailers it was a stimulation to further focus on green retailing, sustainable and repsonsable retailing.

When the economical crisis began, many people were afraid of the effects on green retailing, that companies would choose for cost savings instead of social responsability. Partly this happened, retailers competing on price without thinking to much of the environment, but we also some innovative new initiatives to develop environment-friendly retail projects.

Research shows that 59% of the Dutch people is prepared to pay an extra for more sustainable products and/or services.

Below we give some examples of the Dutch retail sector of how some of the mayor players adapted to environmental-friendly and honest retailing.

Maxeda, the organization of 11 retailers launched a program called “keen on green”.
La Place for example serves only Max Havelaar coffee and biological tea

De Bijenkorf launched a clothing brand “Pure”, all products made of biological cotton

V&D increased the assortment of with a lot of new green products

DIY-markets Formado and Praxis increasingly add new construction materials which are used to make houses more environmental friendly, they even decreased the format of the leaflets which are now printed on environmental friendly paper.

Project “The Green Plug” of BCC electronics chain, increasing the consciousness of the consumers for environmental solutions like saving light bulbs. Clients can borrow energy meters for free.

Clothing brands G-Sus and Mexx are now members of the Fair Wear Foundation