A few years ago the idea that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) would be trying to lead the green revolution among retailers would have sounded like a joke, but that is not the case anymore. Wal-Mart has been making big strides over the past couple of years to become more environmentally conscience, and later this week we could be hearing of another big initiative from the nation's largest retailer.
The company is expected to announce on Thursday that it will be initiating a new indexing system that will allow it to track the social and environmental impact of every single item that it has on its shelves. The immediate impact of this move should give buyers the information they need to buy "greener" products, but the long term goal is to drive competition to make more sustainable products.
This will definitely be a big undertaking for the company, and its expected to take 5 years to fully implement.
The plan involves three phases:
- The first step will be information gathering from Wal-Mart's suppliers about the sustainable practices of their suppliers.
- The next step will be to create a database to track all the information that was gathered in step #1. Wal-Mart will get help from scholars at the University of Arkansas and the Arizona State University.
- The final step will be to take the results from step #2 and create a tool that will give consumers the information that they need to evaluate the sustainability of the products they purchase.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-17-2009 @ 2:52PM
Chris Glennon said...
Why create another measurement that will only be used at one retailer. What about one with broad market appeal, such as JumpGauge Interactive Labeling (http://www.JumpGauge.com/)? Consumers could use it at all retailers, not just Walmart. Interactive labeling also offers greater transparency and knowledge transfer than a simple questionnaire