Retailers Calendar

Prioritization of Options
To read
more about
potential
barriers to
implementing
consumerside
improvement,
see UNEP’s
Greening
Shops and
Saving Costs
Guide, pg. 46.
http://www.un
ep.fr/pc/retail
Once your major goals are aligned and you have highlighted several options, you will want to decide which option
would be the most appropriate for your business. There are three major factors that will help you to decide:
Operational analysis
Examine your business, including your product offerings, staff competencies, and business capabilities. Review
your corporate strengths, weaknesses, and potential project barriers. You may also want to review current news
and “hot” topics: where can your business fit? It may help to review the necessities needed for a potential project,
and evaluate if your company has the matching resources to plan and successfully execute the project in mind.
Is this project a strategic alignment? For example, do you have the corporate knowledge to create a sustainable
lifestyles marketing scheme or would your company be better off creating a take-back scheme?
Financial analysis
A classic financial evaluation is warranted even for ideas that aim to create environmental improvements. A
discounted cash flow (DCF) is probably the most widely used tool to understand financial payback. A DCF
determines the present value of future cash flows using the appropriate discount rate. A DCF may be able to
show you that investing in a project now could save you big money (or not) in the future. At the very least, a
simply cost-benefit analysis can also be used.
Potential for intangible value creation
Intangible benefits can often draw in revenues not quantifiable in a rough financial analysis. Improving customer
side environmental issues can improve customer relationships, brand equity and reputation, business continuity,
and even strategic alliances. Customer relationships and increased brand reputation attract revenue and also
decrease the likelihood that your company could be attacked from negative press. Many companies, even Wal-
Mart, are trying to improve their reputation by adding to their environmental portfolio. Improving customer
relationships also helps to gain repeat and loyal customers. Business continuity and strategic alliances can be
created through improving your products, via supply chain improvements, and reaching out to new partners, such
as NGOs and even policy makers. Retailers such as Kesko and Co-op in Europe are creating partnerships with
NGOs, such as Fair Trade and organic organizations, to improve sustainable product marketing. A project’s
potential for intangible value creation can be a large bonus for your organization.
Intangible value can be measured through an expanded cost-benefit analysis, by assigning these intangibles a
monetary value. A pilot project can also help evaluate the intangible value of your proposed project. For an
example of improving consumer relationships through improving environmental issues see Box 11.1 below
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