Canadian Music Trade - February / March 2020 | Page 29

“It’s the big ones, like the Walmarts
of this world, who of course have huge
control,” Evans says, noting that since about
2005, Walmart has imposed sustainability
guidelines on its suppliers to get them to re-
duce packaging and CO2 emissions, among
other things.
For small, niche retailers like the major-
ity of Canada’s MI dealers, the “number one
thing would really be the energy savings, in
so far as they can control their own costs,
depending on the environment in which
they’re selling,” Evans says. “The return on
investment from energy reduction is the
highest, with lighting and heating being the
number one area.”
Of course, the larger the space, the
more the business stands to benefit,
cost-wise, from reducing lighting and
heating energy consumption. Often, it’s
about simple improvements. For exam-
ple, changing all light bulbs to LEDs and
installing sensors so the lights aren’t staying
on in empty rooms. That alone can reduce
a store’s energy consumption by up to 25
per cent, depending on its size. It’s also
about turning off computers, cash registers,
printers, TVs, and other electronics at
the end of the day. And when purchasing
any new electronics or appliances, opt for
products with Energy Star or Safer Choice
certification.
“What’s the waste generated by the
store and how can you reduce that waste?
Sometimes there are charges for [garbage
collection], so when you look at greening
retail, you’re also look at reducing costs.
So, there’s a pretty good incentive for any
business to want to become sustainable.
Sometimes there’s an initial charge up-
front, but often the return on investment is
pretty fast,” says Evans.
Sometimes the biggest impact a smaller
store can have is on influencing the actions
of their employees and even customers. That
may involve fostering a culture of environ-
mental awareness, which begins with consul-
tations. Store owners and managers should
not begin by imposing new moral rules on
their teams; instead, they can consult with
employees, explaining earnestly why they
want to improve the business’s recycling and
waste- and energy-reduction practices – even
in small ways. With their buy-in, it could
extend beyond the walls and operating hours
of the store.
“I think that sort of culture can be en-
couraged for store staff, and that retailers can
encourage their customers to think about
sustainability,” says Evans. “Also, in looking
at a sustainability strategy, I really think you
want to talk to all the stakeholders, which
includes your customers. What does sustain-
ability mean to them? What is important to
them? They may come up with great ideas
or things that they think are higher priorities
than others. You also want to talk to your
suppliers about what they have done and
can do in addition to your staff. So, you talk
to the various stakeholders and then you’ve
got your checklist of things you can do.
Then you have to strategize about how that
fits in with the values of your business. So,
you’re developing a strategy and timeframe
and then planning how to implement your
overall strategy.”
For employees, there can be rewards or
incentives to, for example, take public transit
to work instead of driving, or any number
of other beneficial actions. But ultimately,
if the business has a culture of priding itself
on being a good global citizen, it rubs off
on others. It also makes employees prouder
and more loyal to the business. After all,
everyone likes to feel that their work is help-
ing rather than hurting the world, and that
feeling may be more ingrained in the music
world than other retail sectors.
Once you have a sustainability strategy
in place, no matter how big or small, don’t
be shy about letting customers know.
There may be ways that regular customers
can get involved. Plus, studies have shown
that customers are more loyal to environ-
mentally-conscious businesses.
In fact, Aberdeen Group, an internation-
al marketing company that studies buyer be-
haviour, found that retailers’ environmental
strategies “represent not only a strategic and
tactical shift in internal business processes
and cost-efficiencies but also – and signifi-
cantly – a new way of engaging the customer
by leveraging sustainability initiatives to
enter into a partnership with the customer as
good global citizens. Aberdeen data suggests
that retailers achieve not only dramatic cost
savings, but also dramatically improved
customer loyalty.”
In short, there is no one-size-fits-all envi-
ronmental strategy for MI retailers. But
it doesn’t require a mammoth effort from
every store. In fact, in a research report she
co-authored with folks from Toronto &
Region Conservation and the Conservation
Foundation of Greater Toronto, Evans and
co. found that if just five per cent of Canadi-
an retailers and their suppliers reduced their
energy consumption by 10 per cent, the
estimated energy savings in one year would
be equal to the energy required to power half
a million homes – or all of Ottawa – and
would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1.4
million tonnes, or the equivalent of remov-
ing 233,000 cars from the road for a year.
So, if you’re a chain of 80-plus stores
across the country (that, I don’t know, hap-
pens to rhyme with “strong blockade”) then
there is a lot that can be done. They can
encourage/pressure suppliers to reduce their
wasteful packaging and carbon emissions,
or install solar panels on owned properties
(worth mentioning: there are federal and
provincial government rebates available for
solar panels, Energy Star appliances, and
more), or introduce policies at the store
level. But small independent retailers can
make a difference with a team effort to cut
waste and energy use, which can in turn save
a few bucks.
Bottom line, it’s worth the effort.
Michael Raine is the Senior Editor of
Canadian Music Trade
CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE 29