Green Retail: New or Traditional Approach?

When innovation unleashes power taking smart minds into action, it can bring the highest quality results, reserving green the environment. Integration of green attitude in this modern world, bringing the retail business into a whole new level. 

Shopping is a basic activity in everyone's lifestyle. Consumers are now leaning towards more organic, green and sustainable products, giving businesses the opportunity to grow more. They are searching for manufacturers and stores, who operate on green principles and in environmentally friendly ways.

Types of Eco-Friendly Stores can be brought into business:

• Clothing and Apparel

An eco-friendly clothing store can sell products made from sustainable fabrics (hemp, reclaimed fabrics, organic cotton, bamboo fiber, jute etc.) Vegan silk is even there, made from silkworm casings. These can be gathered with no harm to the silkworms and only after the moths have emerged for them. Natural and organic dyes can also be used in eco-friendly clothing. 'Natural Clothing Company' is an example of such initiative.

• Furniture: 

Eco-friendly furniture can made from sustainable products like teak wood, abaca and bamboo. Recycled or re-claimed materials like old barn wood, or any other wood can also be used in this case. Natural fibers and recycled materials can be utilized for upholstery and padding for these pieces. Environmentally friendly oils and waxes, water- and soy-based finishes and natural dyes can be put to use on these as well. 'Vermont Woods Studios' can be taken as an example.

• Personal Care and Household Cleaning Products: 

Environmentally friendly personal care products can be made from organic ingredients, grown naturally without using harsh chemicals. This can include most of the household products as well as personal care and grooming products. Green household products can include all-purpose kitchen and bathroom cleaners. Using products like these is always better for health and well-being as well as the environment. One such example can be 'Honest'.

What to Expect From a Green Retailer:

Environmentally friendly or green practices by retailers can vary from one store to the next. Some  of them can go all the way when it comes to being green, some can implement it in halfway too. The retailer named 'Old Wood Furniture Co.' is not only using green products in their furniture, but they also has a list of environmental initiatives like:

• Companywide recycling and energy efficient efforts
• Recycled and recyclable packing materials
• Paperless accounting and bookkeeping systems
• Use of recycled paper for printed company collateral
• Use of LED lighting throughout the store
• Use of biodiesel in company vehicles

Though it is a fact that not all retailers can go to this ecologically friendly extreme at the starting point., but they can always implement them little by little. Doing own research into the retailer's business practices in this perspective can be proven effective in that case.

The best practices put forward to conduct a green retail business can be:

Finally, as long as the consumers continue to demand eco-friendly products and services, the green stores and their products will continue to become more accessible on a larger scale to the general public. If we use databases to find green retailers online (like 'Eco Friendly Emporium') and eco-friendly brick-and-mortar stores in our local area, then also these businesses can thrive a little more.