What Should We Do for Sustainability Development

Most of the promotional displays are meant to be thrown away. The same batch of displays can only stay in store for a few months because it only serves one period of promotional time. During the manufacturing process, only 60% of the display material got into the store. The rest of the 40% is wasted on the manufacture and transaction. Unfortunately, those waste is usually seen as the cost of doing business. Retailers and brands who have noticed those kinds of waste are already making some agreement on their sustainability and social responsibility projects.

In this situation, how will the retailers and brands coordinate their sustainability plans with inherently unsustainable development plans? After all, consumers are willing to purchase from a company, as they said in the sustainability area. Recently, a customer survey said: that nearly 80% of customers think "sustainability means something to them while shopping. 50% of people are willing to pay more for sustainable products. The data also shows that generation Z cares about sustainability more than generation S. Moreover, if the price is permanent, people want to build more connections with brands. In the survey, product quality and price are the first factors affecting consumer loyalty, then sustainability.

Finding ways to address point-of-sale material waste will help retailers reduce their environmental impact and align their actions with their message. Eco-conscious consumers respond to brand stories that resonate with their passion for sustainability. 

Create, Economize, and Testing

SDUS has helped many customers embrace sustainability by creating, economizing, and testing point-of-purchase display material.

Create

In order to approach Nestle's sustainability value, SD creates a fully eco-friendly pop display, from the material to the weighting structure, all recyclable. SD audited existing pop materials and proposed alternatives to reduce or eliminate plastic altogether. The solution included transforming the material from plastic to eco-friendly and creating a heavy-duty structure that is more durable than the plastic one.

The program requires seeing familiar processes in new ways. Typically, all the connection clips are made of durable plastic in order to load more products. However, we can; t use any plastic at this time. SD designer team worked with our supplier partners to develop new connection clips that totally removed the plastic containing 90kg of products—switching from typical pop displays to sustainably recycled displays.

So far, we are cooperating with Nestle and developing different recyclable displays. From those creative solutions, we hope they can reduce some harmful environmental impacts.

Economize

Considering the waste in the production of the POP display. The company hopes to develop a good design model that can effectively save paper. Typically, although cardboard display is recyclable, the waste of paper scraps in manufacturing can reach 30-40%. In order to realize our commitment to sustainable development, we try to reduce the waste from the design process. So far, the SD team has lowered the scrap waste to 10-20%, a significant improvement for the industry.

Testing

In the continuous development and design process, testing must be an essential link. Sometimes, beauty and weight can't stay together. But SD wants to provide consumers with the best they can. So before we send our samples to customers, we need to go through certain tests, like weighing tests, sustainability tests, environmental protection, etc. SD worked with a sports equipment company, and they required us to make an exhibition stand for an adjustable dumbbell weighing 55kg. Because the product is too heavy, we have to redesign the product packaging to prevent the dumbbell from damaging the packaging and exhibition stand in the process of transportation.

After many discussions and tests, we have thickened the outer packaging and added a triangular structure inside to ensure that the products will not move around during the transportation project, damaging the exhibition frame. We've reinforced the entire frame to make sure it's load-bearing. Finally, we conducted transportation and sustainable tests on the display and packaging. We simulated the whole product in transit and completed a 10-day shipping test. Of course, the results are considerable. Our display shelves were not damaged during transportation and were placed in the mall for 3-4 months without any damage.

Sustainability

These moves prove that sustainable POP shelves are not an oxymoron. Guided by a genuine desire to find a better way, retailers can disrupt the status quo while developing attractive and functional POP shelves that serve their intended purpose and support the company's story. Participating in supplier innovation can discover new sources of sustainable materials and products.

But solutions don't always rely on new materials or technologies. Simply questioning every step of the familiar process will be the potential for improvement. Does the product need to be wrapped in plastic? Can sustainably grown wood or paper products replace plastic sources? Can shelves or trays be used for secondary purposes? Do express packages have to be filled with plastic? Not using, improving, or changing packaging can reduce costs and environmental damage.

Recognizing the throwback culture in retail goods is the first step toward a more sustainable model. It doesn't have to be this way. Marketers can continue to innovate to capture consumers' attention and drive their behavior. Behind the scenes, the SD can drive innovation.

Visit our sustainability page to learn more about how Sd can make retail sales execution more sustainable.


Post time: Sep-01-2022