Go Green, Not Red, this Holiday Season
The holiday shopping season is upon us. For retailers, these last three months of the year signify a marathon of competitive sales strategies to increase foot traffic and maximize profits.
According to the National Retail Federation, the holiday season can represent as much as 30% of annual sales. To adapt to shifting consumer trends and meet peak season demands, stores plan to increase both hours of operation and staff onsite.
Retailers such as Gap and Target have already scheduled hiring events across stores nationwide. In 2016, seasonal retail employment increased by 641,000 from October through December to support extended store hours. Many stores even stay open non-stop for the last few days before the holiday.
By focusing on sales strategies to capture the largest share of consumers, retailers often overlook the costs required to do so — because as store hours and foot traffic increase across retail sites, so do waste volumes and energy consumption.
Retailers spend over $21 billion per year on energy, a large portion of which hits during peak shopping season — and over $3 billion of these expenditures could be avoided through efficiency measures.
By planning early and creating a pre-holiday checklist to manage these cost areas, retailers can ensure a happy holiday season for businesses and consumers alike. Retailers can follow the following five strategies to minimize energy and waste costs.
1. Big data brings big savings. Before the holiday season begins, retailers should have established benchmarks for both energy usage and waste volumes to efficiently adjust for increases. Utilities can help retailers assess energy usage and provide recommendations for low cost efficiency measures and connected equipment.
As more equipment, including thermostats, lighting controls and machine sensors, come online and provide constant streams of data, retailers gain a more transparent view of energy usage and opportunities for significant reductions.
Additionally, for waste, retailers who have their own, individual waste services should be familiar with typical waste volumes to prepare for increases. If dumpsters are regularly filled pre-holidays, these retailers should temporarily increase service levels with their haulers before the holidays to avoid unsightly pileups and extra fines.
2. Turn that thermometer down. Retailers go out of their way to accommodate customers and create an optimal environment to make the hectic shopping experience a little more enjoyable. Busy shoppers, however, are unlikely to notice minimal heating or cooling changes that bring in big savings. Turning the thermostat down or up by just one degree across various sites can save millions of dollars.
If you have a control system, ensure that your set-points and schedules are adjusted to reflect the holiday hours. Relying on staff at each location to adjust them leaves room for error and you run the risk of having your assets on 24x7.
3. Go green on holiday displays. With increasing competition to stage elaborate window displays, retailers often underestimate the costs and requirements of additional plug loads to power holiday lighting and special effects around the clock. To mitigate the stress on existing power sources within stores, retailers should seek out energy efficient power products from online marketplaces run by utilities and local suppliers.
4. Maintenance comes first. Retailers should make sure all assets – lighting controls, heating and cooling systems, or refrigeration – are running optimally prior to peak season. Ensuring planned maintenance is completed and that all assets are commissioned correctly will reduce the chance for unplanned downtime on critical operational assets. Having an air handling unit with a damper stuck open wastes energy and is an unnecessary distraction for store managers during the most critical time of year.
5. Embrace waste year-round. Most of retail waste is recyclable. For many retailers, the holidays correspond to moving more products, creating more packaging and consequently increasing waste volumes. This influx of waste is accompanied by longer hours and more people, which means less time and space to collect it. The biggest mistake retailers make is assuming that their recycling programs are functioning well and that employees are separating materials properly. Many companies start a waste or recycling program, train their employees once, and never touch it again. But, these programs need constant attention.
Creating well-founded recycling and waste reduction programs year-round is the foundation to a greener holiday. This includes proper bin placement, ongoing employee training and clear signage for disposal locations within the store to enable new employees, and distracted employees, to maintain existing recycling programs.
From resetting HVAC controls to adjusting waste and recycling services to account for more inventory, retailers can better prepare for their busiest season through data and best practices. Last year, holiday retail sales increased 4%in 2015 to $658.3 billion. To ensure strong profits this year, retailers must not only adapt to consumer demands, but also increase their efforts to reduce energy costs, improve waste programs and be more sustainable. This will decrease overhead and ensure a greener and more profitable holiday season.
According to the National Retail Federation, the holiday season can represent as much as 30% of annual sales. To adapt to shifting consumer trends and meet peak season demands, stores plan to increase both hours of operation and staff onsite.
Retailers such as Gap and Target have already scheduled hiring events across stores nationwide. In 2016, seasonal retail employment increased by 641,000 from October through December to support extended store hours. Many stores even stay open non-stop for the last few days before the holiday.
By focusing on sales strategies to capture the largest share of consumers, retailers often overlook the costs required to do so — because as store hours and foot traffic increase across retail sites, so do waste volumes and energy consumption.
Retailers spend over $21 billion per year on energy, a large portion of which hits during peak shopping season — and over $3 billion of these expenditures could be avoided through efficiency measures.
By planning early and creating a pre-holiday checklist to manage these cost areas, retailers can ensure a happy holiday season for businesses and consumers alike. Retailers can follow the following five strategies to minimize energy and waste costs.
1. Big data brings big savings. Before the holiday season begins, retailers should have established benchmarks for both energy usage and waste volumes to efficiently adjust for increases. Utilities can help retailers assess energy usage and provide recommendations for low cost efficiency measures and connected equipment.
As more equipment, including thermostats, lighting controls and machine sensors, come online and provide constant streams of data, retailers gain a more transparent view of energy usage and opportunities for significant reductions.
Additionally, for waste, retailers who have their own, individual waste services should be familiar with typical waste volumes to prepare for increases. If dumpsters are regularly filled pre-holidays, these retailers should temporarily increase service levels with their haulers before the holidays to avoid unsightly pileups and extra fines.
2. Turn that thermometer down. Retailers go out of their way to accommodate customers and create an optimal environment to make the hectic shopping experience a little more enjoyable. Busy shoppers, however, are unlikely to notice minimal heating or cooling changes that bring in big savings. Turning the thermostat down or up by just one degree across various sites can save millions of dollars.
If you have a control system, ensure that your set-points and schedules are adjusted to reflect the holiday hours. Relying on staff at each location to adjust them leaves room for error and you run the risk of having your assets on 24x7.
3. Go green on holiday displays. With increasing competition to stage elaborate window displays, retailers often underestimate the costs and requirements of additional plug loads to power holiday lighting and special effects around the clock. To mitigate the stress on existing power sources within stores, retailers should seek out energy efficient power products from online marketplaces run by utilities and local suppliers.
4. Maintenance comes first. Retailers should make sure all assets – lighting controls, heating and cooling systems, or refrigeration – are running optimally prior to peak season. Ensuring planned maintenance is completed and that all assets are commissioned correctly will reduce the chance for unplanned downtime on critical operational assets. Having an air handling unit with a damper stuck open wastes energy and is an unnecessary distraction for store managers during the most critical time of year.
5. Embrace waste year-round. Most of retail waste is recyclable. For many retailers, the holidays correspond to moving more products, creating more packaging and consequently increasing waste volumes. This influx of waste is accompanied by longer hours and more people, which means less time and space to collect it. The biggest mistake retailers make is assuming that their recycling programs are functioning well and that employees are separating materials properly. Many companies start a waste or recycling program, train their employees once, and never touch it again. But, these programs need constant attention.
Creating well-founded recycling and waste reduction programs year-round is the foundation to a greener holiday. This includes proper bin placement, ongoing employee training and clear signage for disposal locations within the store to enable new employees, and distracted employees, to maintain existing recycling programs.
From resetting HVAC controls to adjusting waste and recycling services to account for more inventory, retailers can better prepare for their busiest season through data and best practices. Last year, holiday retail sales increased 4%in 2015 to $658.3 billion. To ensure strong profits this year, retailers must not only adapt to consumer demands, but also increase their efforts to reduce energy costs, improve waste programs and be more sustainable. This will decrease overhead and ensure a greener and more profitable holiday season.