Sustainability

It’s a common retail scenario: Last year, several sites deployed consistent schedules and set-points and also staged energy-consuming assets into groups that engaged at different times of the day. These executed measures led to significant kWh savings.

As the key cog in the wheel of a retail chain’s financial structure, today’s retail CFOs find themselves caught in the crosshairs of senior management and stakeholders demanding maximum profit and measurable growth amid increased consolidation and tightened revenues.

But that’s nothing new. Financial chiefs have always had to balance profit and loss with expansion strategies.

▲ Investing in energy conservation makes business sense: According to ASHRAE, energy is the second highest retailer operating expense. A new white paper by the Retail Leaders Industry Association (RILA) and Schneider Electric notes that recent weather extremes have increased energy costs for retailers, and the trend is expected to continue. Factor in potential electricity price increases in the near future, and increases in energy costs could be significant.

▲ Customer experience: Poorly maintained stores cost sales and dilute the brand and customer experience. Not giving facilities the funding required to keep stores clean and in good condition will impact the bottom line in that customers will shop elsewhere. Today, more than ever, shoppers have high expectations regarding the look and feel of a store, and they also have many more options from which to choose.

▲Construction and construction costs are not an exact science: Information derived from data may be predicable; people are not.

▲ The process takes time: Construction encompasses more that just the time it takes to physically build a store. It also involves the lease-negotiating phase, drawing phases, permit phase and bidding phase.

▲ Smaller spaces don’t always translate into big cost reductions: It’s often assumed that as store square footage gets smaller, the overall costs go down.

Retailer H&M showed off items from its summer fashion line with a summer camp-themed event in Brooklyn.

Following a preview of the fashion retailer, guests participated in postcard writing activities and played Ping-Pong, culminating in a performance by Zoe Kravitz’s band, Lolawolf, around a campfire.

"I think H&M does a really great job making clothes that are affordable but still fashionable and well made,” Kravitz said.

Starbucks Corp. has opened its first company-operated store at Walt Disney World Resort, a nearly 4,000-sq.-ft. site at Downtown Disney West Side in Orlando, Florida.

Johnson & Johnson has added UPS chairman and CEO D. Scott Davis to its board as director. Davis will serve on the audit committee and the regulatory, compliance and government affairs committee.

Davis has been with UPS for 29 years and was appointed its CEO in 2008. Under his leadership, the company has expanded its logistics network reach and capabilities throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas. Davis plans to retire Sept. 1, and will remain non-executive chairman of UPS’ board.