'Green' Retailing: Tesco Scores Second Overall, Number One Among Food and Drug Chains, in Ceres Coalition's Climate Change Corporate Scorecard

Pictured above: A Tesco "carbon footprint" informational shelf tag (in this case for orange juice) in one of the retailer's United Kingdom supermarkets. Tesco is the only food and grocery retailer in the world using the consumer informational labels at the point-of-purchase.

United Kingdom-based Tesco, which owns and operates Southern California-based Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA, has scored second overall, and number one in the "Grocery & Drug" retailing category, in an analysis of how 63 of the world's largest consumer-focused and technology corporations are confronting and handling the challenges of climate change.

The survey and analysis was conducted by the group Ceres, which is a leading coalition of investors, environmental groups and other public interest organizations, which works directly with companies to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change.

The report uses a "Climate Change Governance Framework" to evaluate how 48 US companies and 15 non-US companies are addressing climate change through board of director oversight, management execution, public disclosure, GHG emissions accounting and strategic planning and performance. Some of the largest global companies in 11 consumer and technology sectors were evaluated using a 100-point scoring system based on this framework, according to Mindy S. Lubber, the president of Ceres.

Out of the 63 corporations rated by the Ceres coalition on its 100-point scale, Tesco came in second overall with a score of 78. IBM Corporation was first, just edging out Tesco with a score of 79. Computer giant Dell placed third, with a score of 77, just one point below number two Tesco.

The 63 corporations rated ranged from food-grocery and apparel retailing companies and technology businesses, to beverage companies, restaurants, and travel and leisure operations. You can view all of the 63 companies and their rankings by category here.

Northern California-based Safeway Stores, Inc. came in second in the "Grocery & Drug" retailing category, scoring 48 points.

Natural and organic foods retailer Whole Foods Market, Inc. came in third, with a rather low score of 27, followed by Kroger Co. (score of 23), drug chain Walgreen's (21), and the CVS drug chain came in last,with a score of 12.

U.S-based mega-retailer Wal-Mart did fairly well in the Ceres climate change scorecard with a numerical score of 69 on its climate change efforts ranking index. Ceres placed Wal-Mart, which is the number one global retailer and the largest seller of food and groceries in the U.S., in a different category -- "Big Box Retailers" -- which is why it isn't included with Tesco and the others in the grocery and drug retailing category. If it were, Wal-Mart would score second after Tesco, with a score of 69, compared to Tesco's 78.

The same is the case with the French global retailer Carrefour, which along with Wal-Mart and Tesco is one of the top-three food and grocery retailers in the world. Carrefour came in second in the "Big Box Retailer" category, with a score of 52. Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world in terms of annual sales, followed by Carrefour, and then Tesco at number three.

U.S. retail chains Costco and Target, both which are major food and grocery retailers, also were included in the "Big Box Retailer" category. Target placed fourth with a score of 37, right after third-place office supply chain Staples, while warehouse club chain Costco came in at number eight (second from last in the category), with a score of 14.

Electronics chain Best Buy was number five, after number four target, with a score of 36; the Lowe's home store chain was sixth, with a score of 17; Home Depot seventh (score of 15); then Costco; followed by the Bed, Bath & Beyond home products' chain in last (ninth) place, scoring a 10.

All of the report's detailed results are here.

The Ceres group says more than half of the 63 consumer-focused and technology companies it examined regarding climate change efforts scored below 50, which the group says demonstrates that much more effort is needed by the overall corporate sector to address climate change and global warming.

"Many companies, especially technology and pharmaceutical firms, are doing a better job of integrating climate change into their business strategies," said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres, which published the report, Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Consumer and Technology Companies. "But the overall responses among these companies are very spotty, especially in the restaurant, real estate and travel & leisure sectors where climate change is barely on their radar. With or without a recession, climate change is a core business issue that all consumer and tech companies should be focused on."

The relative high scores in the Ceres of the three top-ranking global food and grocery retail chains -- Tesco, Wal-Mart and Carrefour -- is a good sign in Fresh & Easy Buzz's analysis. It shows the global "big three" are leading on the climate change issue in terms of walking the walk as well as talking the talk. Of course more needs to be done. But all three are showing strong leadership on the issue, particularly compared to corporations in other sectors.

One of the major efforts that gave Tesco its relatively high score is a program started by the retailer last year in which it is putting product "carbon footprint informational labels," which are similar to nutritional information labels, on shelf tags in its stores in the UK. The retailer also is working on putting the "carbon labels" on its store brand food and grocery items, starting with its packaged goods.

The "carbon footprint shelf tags" have information such as the amount of energy input it took to create the product and the like. The content of the shelf tags is designed to show a product's "carbon footprint," as the photograph at the top of this story shows.

Tesco CEO Terry Leahy has told the branded packaged goods companies that sell their brands to Tesco that the retailer expects them to start putting the "carbon labels" on their manufactured products in the not to distant future. Tesco is the leader in doing this in that it's the first (and only chain so far) to start labeling the food and grocery products at the point-of-purchase in its stores with the "carbon footprint" consumer information. Tesco isn't currently using the "carbon footprint shelf tags" at its Fresh & Easy stores in the Western U.S. [For more information read: Tesco PLC CEO Terry Leahy: 'We Must Go Green.']

In addition to reading how the various 63 corporations scored by category, you can read a summary of the report, as well as download the full report, here. You can also view a full profile of the food and grocery retailers in the Ceres report at these two links: Grocery & Drug Retailers and Big Box Retailers. The profiles for Tesco, Safeway Stores and WHole Foods Market are at the "Grocery & Drug" link. Those for Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Target and Costco are at the "Big Box Retailers" link.

You can learn more about Ceres (pronounced "series") here and here.

Fresh & Easy Offers New Definition of 'Double Bagging;' Says Sales of Reusable Bags Has Doubled Since Introducing its 99-Cent Bag in October

Analysis: 'Green' Retail Marketing

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market said last week its sales of reusable, canvas shopping bags has doubled since it introduced a budget canvas bag for 99-cents in October, proving economists throughout the world right when they say selling a given good or service for a perceived or real low price will often stimulate consumer demand for that given good or service, say beyond the level of such demand for a $2.99 canvas tote bag, which we believe was about the price of the single canvas bag available at Fresh & Easy before it introduced the additional 99-cent budget version.

Fresh & Easy says it introduced the 99-cent budget canvas bag (pictured above at left), which is made from 100% cotton and the grocer says can hold up to 100 pounds, in October, primarily to reduce the number of single-use plastic carrier bags it uses in its 100-plus small-format, convenience-oriented combination grocery and fresh foods markets in Southern California, Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada and the Phoenix Metro region in Arizona. That number is high because unlike nearly all other supermarkets and grocery stores in the Western U.S. do, Tesco's Fresh & Easy does not offer paper grocery sacks along with single-use plastic in its stores. No paper or plastic option.

We think its bad business for Tesco not to offer the paper grocery sack option in its Fresh & Easy stores since all who have experience in the Western U.S. food and grocery retailing market know there is a huge segment of consumers who seriously dislike single-use plastic carrier bags, don't often or always bring reusable bags to the stores, like paper grocery sacks, and might just not shop in stores that don't offer the paper option.

Perhaps a chain that has more business than it needs could get by without offering the paper option. However, Tesco's Fresh & Easy isn't in that category, and by not offering the paper bag option, just as is the case by not accepting paper checks, manufacturers' coupons and WIC vouchers from poor mothers, along with not offering at least one or two full-service checkout lanes in the stores, the grocery chain continues to write its own prescription for doing less business than it could, in our analysis.

In the United Kingdom where Tesco is based, supermarkets don't offer paper grocery bags. The retailer brought this practice, as it did its entire British retailing model in our analysis and in the opinion of numerous Fresh & Easy employees, over with it across the pond when it created Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, opening the first stores in November of last year. The movement to banish the plastic bags in the UK is even stronger than it is in the U.S. though.

Paper grocery sacks also are easier to recycle in the U.S. Unfortunately few if any cities allow residents to recycle single-use plastic grocery bags in their curbside recycling programs. Therefore most of the bags end up in the regular home garbage can, thereby ending up in landfills rather than being recycled. Paper grocery bags on the other hand are excepted in all curbside recycling programs, as is paper of every type.

The good news from an environmental perspective is, at least in California, that supermarkets over a certain size (including the Fresh & Easy markets) now have recycling bins in-store where shoppers can bring their single-use plastic carrier bags to be recycled. This is by law in California. The law, which also requires these retailers to sell reusable grocery bags, was passed last June in the Golden State. Neither Nevada or Arizona have such a law at present.

Despite believing strongly it's bad business and bad "green" retailing behavior for Fresh & Easy not to offer the paper bag option and only the free single-use plastic bags, we congratulate the grocer for offering the budget reusable canvas bags for 99 cents. And they are a quality bag for that price. The cheaper reusable bags are, the more consumers' will purchase (and hopefully use) them. Of course that's the key; bringing the bags with them to the store. That's the consumer's responsibility and not the retailer's.

We think reusable bags are the ultimate goal because both plastic and paper grocery bags have environmental problems with them, although recycling of the paper bags is so much higher because the infrastructure is better in place for consumers to do so. And yes, we are aware it takes more natural resource inputs to make a paper bag than it does a thin, single-use plastic carrier bag. But the ease of recycling outweighs that in our analysis. Just look on the s and the beaches in America. You will see tons of single-use plastic carrier bags but hardly a paper grocery sack in site.

Numerous retailers -- Wal-Mart, Target, Safeway, Kroger and many others -- are now selling reusable bags for 99 cents to a couple dollars. Target has even been promoting a canvas reusable bag at 50 cents each for the last few weeks in its stores and weekly advertising circular.

It's just a matter of time, especially in California, before laws are passed throughout the U.S. (many cities already have passed them) that either ban single-use plastic carrier bags completely or in what is becoming an increasingly popular law, places a fee of from 5 cents to a quarter per bag on the plastic bags at the store. If shoppers want a plastic bag they have to pay for it under these laws.

Some city governments also are including paper bags in these fee schemes. We think that's a good idea. And we are betting we are going to see a rash of bag-fee legislation by cities and states, not just for green reasons, but also as a way to generate new funds for the cities in these bad economic times.

For example, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said last week he plans to initiate a law that would put a fee on single-use plastic carrier bags at every retail store in New York -- and there are a lot of them. He mentioned the revenue would not just be used for environmental programs but also for the general fund.

Earlier this year the city of Seattle, Washington placed a 20-cent per plastic-bag fee on the single-use bags used at supermarkets in the city.

The California State Legislature had a bill before it this year to levy a 25 cent per plastic bag fee at the point-of-purchase. However, because the legislature was unable to agree on a budget until months after its deadline, that bill, along with many others, was never voted on. A version of it is expected to be brought up again next year.

And of course, San Francisco has banned single-use plastic carrier bags completely at larger supermarkets and drug stores. Palo Alto, where Tesco plans to open a Fresh & Easy Market also has placed a per-bag fee on single-use plastic carrier bags. Other San Francisco Bay Area cities are either in the process of enacting plastic bag fee laws or outright bans.

Cities like Manhattan Beach in Southern California have done the same. That city's ban is set to go in effect before the end of this month. Tesco has a Fresh & Easy store in Manhattan Beach. Therefore it will have to stop using the single-use plastic carrier bags. The grocer will either have to offer free paper bags at the store or force shoppers to either bring there own bag or buy one at the store, which won't likely go over very well with most customers.

Los Angeles County will soon revisit legislation it passed last year that would put a fee on each single-use plastic bag distributed at retail. The law was passed with a provision that state if a statewide fee law isn't passed then the county would go forward with its own law. Since that state legislation wasn't acted on this year, Los Angeles County is now considering going ahead with its own county plastic bag fee law.

Whole Foods Markets stopped using single-use plastic carrier bags in its 280 stores in the U.S., Canada and the UK in April of this year, offering just paper grocery bags for free, while pushing reusable bags.

Last week in Canada, that North American nation's retail grocers' trade association proposed a five cent per single-use plastic carrier bag fee scheme because it wants to get out in front of what is going to happen anyway that the Canadian government will soon pass a bill of its own design. Numerous cities in Canada have passed and are working on passing such laws; some to ban the plastic bags completely.

Loblaws, the largest supermarket chain in Canada, announced last week it will on its own start charging shoppers for single-use plastic carrier bags in its stores. [Canada's Loblaw to charge for plastic shopping bags Markets ...]

Fresh & Easy gives away the as bags to customers at every grand opening celebration and as part of each store's one-year anniversary celebration. Since opening its first store in November 2008, the company has given away over 175,000 canvas bags, according to chief marketing officer Simon Uwins.

Uwins says the grocery chain will introduce a reusable shopping bag made out of organic materials this month. It will sell for $2.99, he says.

Fresh & Easy stores also sell what they call "bags for life." These are reusable plastic grocery bags, popular in the UK. They sell for just 20-cents each at Fresh & Easy. The retailer also says it will replace the bags anytime they wear out for no charge, which is a very good deal for consumers.

Fresh & Easy wouldn't say what the sales of reusable canvas shopping bags doubled to from. Was it from 25 bags to 50? 5,000 -to- 10,000? That would be good information to have. But it appears to be proprietary.

However, doubling sales of the reusable bags in general is certainly a good thing from a "green" perspective. But we do believe Fresh & Easy will eventually be forced to offer paper grocery sacks in its stores because of all the single-use plastic carrier bag bans and fee schemes coming down in California, Nevada and Arizona. We expect numerous new laws to hit in 2009.

Therefore, why not get out in front of such laws. We suggest either offering free paper grocery sacks as an option along with the single-use plastic bags, like all of Fresh & Easy's competitors do, or being even bolder and packing all customer grocery purchases in the reusable "bags for life" the grocer currently sells for the reasonable price of 20 cents each. Perhaps say after a year of using those cheap reusable bags as the free default bag at the stores, combined with an aggressive public education program, Fresh & Easy wouldn't have to give too many out for free after that because shoppers would bring them back with them to the store.

Doing this would be innovative, provide a point of differentiation from the competition, as well as allowing Fresh & Easy to avoid using paper sacks but still be able to offer a free alternative to single-use plastic, which the grocer is going to have to start doing in Manhattan Beach, in San Francisco, and elsewhere very soon. It would be a very "green" bagging solution.

About introducing the 99-cent canvas bags in October, Simon Uwins says: "We want to make it easier for our customers to make green purchasing decisions," said Simon Uwins, Fresh & Easy chief marketing officer. "By offering affordable canvas bag options we can encourage customers to reach for a reusable bag instead of one that might end up in a landfill."

We do sincerely congratulate Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market for offering the affordable canvas bags. But the problem with that statement, and with using the 99-cent canvas bag as a green marketing vehicle by using it as a news hook in this press release, is that it is to landfills where most of the single-use plastic carrier bags Fresh & Easy offers as its only free bagging option in its stores go.

In other words, by only offering single-use plastic carrier bags as the free, default bag in its stores, Fresh & Easy is encouraging the filling of landfills as much as is it is trying to discourage that behavior by offering the cheap canvas bags. That poses some risks, particularly when trying to tout the program from a "green" marketing perspective, in our analysis. It's tough to sell, and tough for consumers to buy.

Offering a second alternative like the paper grocery sacks or the "bags of life" for free would make the "green" message much more consistent and much easier to buy, in our analysis and opinion. But make no mistake about it, we do like the 99-cent canvas bags.

Tesco PLC CEO Terry Leahy: 'We Must Go Green'

Speaking at the Coca-Cola Retail Research Council Global Forum in Bejing, China on August 22, Tesco PLC CEO Sir Terry Leahy told attendees the world's third-largest retailer and parent company of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA wants to "create a mass movement in green consumption" by making it easier and more affordable for customers to buy green products.

In his speech at the global retail research forum, Mr. Leahy said consumers want to be "green" consumers and buy environmentally-sound products, and that it is the challenge of retailers like Tesco to help them do so.

"If consumers are able to purchase lower-carbon products and services, they will reward the businesses that produce these products. This will encourage competition between businesses [and] stimulate research and development to bring forward even better products," he explained to those attending the forum sponsored by beverage giant Coca-Cola.

In his speech CEO Leahy focused on three key elements of what he said is Tesco's "green" or pro-environment strategy. Those key areas are:

>Greening the company's operations.
>Contributing to greening the supply chain.
>Empowering customers to make greener purchasing decisions.

Mr. Leahy emphasised in his speech that the third element of Tesco's "green" strategy is the one in his opinion that will make the most difference in reducing global warming, which he argued he believes is real based on all the research he has seen.

"Consumers account directly and indirectly for 60% of carbon emissions. Get the consumer on side and the task of tackling climate change becomes possible," he said in the speech.

In his speech the Tesco CEO outlined two "green" initiatives the retailer is doing in the United Kingdom, where the chain is based and where it is that nation's number one retailer with a 31% market share. The two initiatives--one designed to reduce the quantity of single-use plastic carrier bags in the stores, and the other designed to reduce carbon outputs--are part of what Mr. Leahy says are the three key elements of Tesco's "green" initiative, as we described above.

CEO Leahy said in his speech that Tesco has saved 2 billion plastic bags by creating incentive programs in its UK stores designed to get shoppers to bring their own reusable bags to the stores. As we reported previously in Fresh & Easy Buzz, Tesco plans on charging shoppers a per-bag fee for the single-use plastic bags in its UK stores as a way to further reduce the quantity of the bags it distributes in its stores in that nation.

Ironically, in the U.S. Tesco only offers free single-use plastic carrier bags in its Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market grocery stores in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona rather than the choice of paper or plastic like nearly every other food and grocery retailer in the nation does. Most U.S. supermarket retailers believe offering consumers a choice of paper or plastic is one way of reducing the use of the plastic bags, along with selling and promoting reusable bags.

Tesco UK stores don't offer paper grocery sacks either. Fresh & Easy USA does sell reusable canvas shopping tote bags, along with what it calls "bags for life." These reusable bags sell for only 20-cents each and are made out of a plastic-like synthetic material. Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market offers to replace these bags when they wear out for free, hence the "bags for life" name.

In addressing what some say is a contradiction between being a "green" retailer and a growing one, Mr. Leahy said that's a false choice.

"The choice is not 'green or grow,' said Leahy. "That is a false choice. You can do both - and you must do both. Reducing emissions does not merely fight climate change, it also cuts costs."

Tesco is the first and currently only food and grocery retailer in the world to have introduced carbon labels on the packages of some of its store brand grocery items. Thus far Tesco has only done this in its stores in the UK. The international retailer also is working with its suppliers to have them eventually include carbon labels on their branded products, which is something CEO Leahy says he and Tesco are committed to seeing happen.

In his speech he pledged to roll out carbon labels for each of the 70,000 products carried in Tesco stores, starting with all of the retailer's store brand items. The labels provide shoppers with information such as a particular product's carbon footprint, how many miles it's traveled from where it was manufactured to where it's being sold, and other related data. They are essentially an environmental version of a nutritional label.

You can read an edited version of Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy's full speech presented at the August 22 Coca-Cola global forum here.

Green Retailing Report: UK Supermarket Chain Waitrose Creates A 'Reusable-Bag Only' 'Green' Checkout Lane in One of Its Stores

A Waitrose supermarket in the United Kingdom town of Chesham has introduced what the upscale food retailer is calling a "green till."

The Chesham branch of the Waitrose supermarket chain has created a "green" checkout lane which can only be used by customers who either bring their own reusable shopping bags or previously received single-use plastic or paper carrier bags to be reused in the store.

No single-use carrier bags will be given out at the "green" checkout.

The move by the Chesham Waitrose is in part a response to a campaign in the town to get the city's lawmakers to ban the use of single-use plastic carrier bags in that community.

A local group called CarryAbag is campaigning for a law that would ban retail stores in Chesham from giving out single-use plastic carrier bags to shoppers. It's the town's goal to be plastic bag-free, either with voluntary compliance by retailers and residents, or eventually through a law banning the single-use plastic carrier bags.

CarryAbag is even linked on the town's official webpage, where it sells an attractive "CarryAbag" canvas reusable shopping bag.

Julia Brammer, a spokesperson for the CarryAbag group, said the organization welcomes the Waitrose supermarket's "green" checkout lane idea.

"It's absolutely brilliant they're taking the issue of bag use seriously and are doing something to encourage shoppers to use their own bags," she says.

Chesham, a town of about 20,000 residents, is a very "green"-conscious community. In fact, in 2006 the town adopted its own comprehensive environmental policy, which you can read here.

Chesham also is a "Fairtrade" town, meaning it's the city's official policy to support Fairtrade goods and services. The town was the first in Buckinghamshire to achieve Fairtrade status when it did so in 2005. Fairtrade status is granted to towns, organizations and businesses in the UK by the UK Fairtrade Foundation.

We think the Waitrose supermarket in Chesham's idea to create a "green" reusable shopping bag lane in its store is a good one.

Like "express" lanes for shoppers who only have ten items or less, it offers a priority to shoppers--in this case for exhibiting positive environmental behavior. It's also a reward in the form of faster checkout service for doing so.

The "green" checkout lane concept, which we haven't seen any other supermarket adopt as of yet, reminds us of freeway carpool lanes in concept. Drivers are rewarded for carpooling (positive environmental behavior) and thus allowed a special lane on the freeway, which always has far less traffic in it than the other lanes. In some countries drivers of hybrid vehicles also can use the carpool lanes.

Both of these concepts--the carpool lane for drivers and the Waitrose Chesham reusable shopping bags-only lane for customers--create an incentive for consumers to behave in an environmentally positive manner.

Human beings like and respond well to positive reinforcement--and as such we expect the Waitrose store's "green" checkout lane to not only be popular, but to change shopper behavior over time. Once many of the supermarket's customers notice the "green till," and how much faster its users are getting waited on, they will start to bring their own reusable carrier bags to the store.

We think this is a winning idea Waitrose should expand to its other UK supermarkets. It's also a great idea for grocery retailers throughout the world--especially in the U.S.

It would be simple for a typical supermarket that has say 12 checkout lanes, to convert one or two of those 12 lanes into "green lanes," in which only shoppers with either reusable shopping totes or their own "reused" single-use plastic or paper carrier bags could use.

We believe the "green" lanes would be a big hit. Further, the U.S. supermarket chain that does it first, for example, is going to have a competitive advantage--at least until others follow suit--and generate lots of publicity over doing so.

The idea is equally good for other UK supermarket chains like Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's, which all have promised to reduce the amount of single-use plastic carrier bags they use in their stores by 25% by the end of this year.

In fact, Sainsbury's CEO Justin King recently announced the retailer is looking for ways to create incentives (carrots not sticks in his words) to get shoppers to request fewer single-use plastic carrier bags rather than to see the UK impose an outright ban or a per-bag charge on the carriers.

The Waitrose "green" checkout lane--which shoppers can only use if they bring their own bags--seems to us to be a very good and innovative carrot.

Earth Day 2008: A Proliferation of 'Green' and 'Eco-Friendly' Product Certification Seals Offers Both Good News and Bad News for Grocers and Consumers

As pro-environmental marketing, retailing and consumerism has grown over the last decade in the United States, there's also been a growth in and proliferation of certification seals and logos ranging from those claiming "100-percent natural," "eco-friendly," "biodegradable," "earth-friendly," "green" and more.

The U.S. federal government doesn't certify "natural" or "green" products like it does organic ingredients in foods and other consumer products. The Department of Agriculture's USDA Organic logo means a user of that logo on its products has met a series of certification tests and measures set out in law, thus earning it the right to use the organic logo.

On the other hand, the dozens of seals and logos touting products as "green," sustainable," or natural, belong to either independent for-profit or non-profit certification organizations, non-profit environmental groups who allow the companies to use the certification seals or logos for a fee, or to companies themselves who have created their own "green seals" for their products.

Food, grocery and other consumer products retailers also have began to use terms such as "100% natural," "sustainable," "eco-friendly" and the like in their stores and on their own-brand products.

Since there currently is no national governmental scheme for certifying "green" or "sustainable" products in the U.S., these groups and companies are allowed to do as they wish basically.

For example, when it comes to the claim "all natural," the only category the U.S. government regulates in terms of putting the words on a product package is fresh poultry. And even in that case, poultry marketers are allowed to call birds which are injected with water or seaweed for example "all natural," in addition to the fact these fresh poultry marketers also can use the term "all natural" on birds that have had antibiotics and hormones used in their raising.

The proliferation of independent companies creating "green" seals or logos along with various companies using their own, poses difficulties for food and grocery retailers who are the agent for consumers by virtue of the business such retailers are in.

Further, the proliferation of these environmental seals and logos is causing lots of consumer confusion. Many wish there was a single certification seal or logo either administered by the U.S. Federal Government like the USDA organic certification program and logo, or by a government recognized independent organization, say on the order of the Good Housekeeping Seal for approved products.

Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle has a good piece on this issue. The story looks at the various independent organizations in the U.S. who are certifying food, grocery and other products as "green," as well as the logos they've created.

The piece also discusses various consumer packaged goods and other consumer products companies that have created their own "green" logos and are using them on their brands.

Additionally, the piece speaks to the retailer issue--both from the perspective of what we refer to as being the consumers' agent--and also about retailer's that have created "green" sections in their stores and their own green certification programs and seals and logos.

Lastly, but far from least, the Chronicle story looks at how this proliferation of "green" and "eco-friendly product logos and certification schemes are affecting consumers.

As we approach Earth Day 2008 (Tuesday, April 22), issues of green marketing are taking center stage. Food and grocery retailers are at the very center of the environmental issue, from sustainability and energy conservation to green marketing. And, the issue and opportunities are only going to grow "greener."

Read the San Francisco Chronicle piece, "Green product seals are gray area," by staff writer Illana Debare here.

Note: The cleaning bottle graphic above is courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle. The illustration is by Tracy Cox. The Earth Day 2008 logo at the top was created by Ms. Adrienne Lay.

Fresh & Easy Buzz Redux: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Should Mimic Tesco UK's Penny-A-Bulb Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb Promo for Earth Day USA

Editor's Note: In the piece below (above the bold headline at the end of the editor's note), published on March 18, we reported on Tesco plc.'s penny-per-bulb Compact Fluorescent light bulb (CFL) promotion at its stores in the United Kingdom.

Further, in the piece we suggested Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market bring that promotion across the pond to the USA for its Fresh & Easy grocery stores.

Earth Day 2008 (April 22) is only 18 days away. The penny-a-bulb CFL promotion would be a good one for Fresh & Easy in our analysis and opinion. Why? For the following reasons:

>As we've written often, the Fresh & Easy stores need food traffic. Promoting and selling CFL's, which are a hot ticket in the U.S. currently just like they are in the UK, for a penny each would generate excitement and drive new shoppers into the Fresh & Easy stores. It would be the first time many of these consumers set foot in one of the small-format, basic grocery and fresh foods grocery stores.

>Earth Day equals "green" or environmental and conservation-oriented themes, actions and in the case of retailers also promotions. CFL's save energy, last much longer than regular light bulbs, reduce carbon footprints and more. Perfect

>The promotion would help Fresh & Easy gain needed "green" or environmental street credibility. Prior to opening its convenience-oriented grocery markets, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market sent out numerous press releases (and obtained media coverage) saying it planned on being a "green" (in the environmental sense) grocery chain. It also made various commitments to the communities it has its stores in about being "green.

The grocer has done a few "green" things like putting solar panels on its 850,000 square foot distribution center in Southern California, holding a plastic gift card recycling event in its stores after the Christmas holiday, along with a couple other environmentally-oriented initiatives. But not much yet, especially at store-level. The penny-a-CFL promotion would be a good element of the retailer's green retailing positioning and promises

>Lastly, and perhaps most important of all, doing an Earth Day penny-per-CFL promotion similar to what parent company Tesco is doing in the UK, would offer a social good to consumers and society. Every incandescent light bulb that's replaced decreases the amount of carbon that's emitted into the ozone. That's a good thing.

In our experience, retail promotions that can generate foot traffic, create excitement, tie-in with a key event (such as Earth Day) and offer a social good are about as win-win as a retailer can get.

What do you think?

Tesco is Currently Selling Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs For One Penny each in its UK Stores; Tesco fresh & Easy USA Should do the Same

Fresh & Easy Buzz, March 18, 2008

Tesco, the United Kingdom-based international retailer and parent company of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in the USA, is currently selling energy-saving Compact Fluorescent light bulbs (CFL's) in its UK Tesco banner stores for the eye-popping low price of one penny each. There's a limit of four CFL's per shopper. Tesco is the UK's number one retailer and the third-largest retailer in the world.

British shoppers are flocking to Tesco stores to get their four-CFL's-for-four-cents bargain. The bulbs use far less energy--and thus result in lower electricity bills--than traditional incandescent light bulbs. CFL's also last far longer (up to five years in some cases) than incandescent bulbs And at one penny each, they are cheaper than even the most rock-bottom-priced incandescent light bulb.

CFL's also are much "greener" than the old traditional bulbs in that they not only save money on monthly electricity bills, they reduce a home owner's or users carbon footprint, since using the CFL's results in less energy use to power the lights in a home or a business.

We asked a researcher in the energy field to estimate for use how much a home owner or business would save by merely replacing four incandescent light bulbs with four CFL's (the per-person limit currently at Tesco in the UK.) He did some calculations and told us he estimates the savings would be about $2.25 per month on a monthly electricity bill by just replacing four bulbs. (We ran his numbers by another research who said they sounded about right.)

Keep in mind this savings is only for four bulbs. Count the number of light bulbs you have in your home and then do the math. It adds up. If you have 40 incandescent bulbs and replace them with 40 CFL's, the savings could be enough to buy a week's or a month's worth of groceries.

Additionally, because CFL's lasts at least 3 years and up to five, and an incandescent light bulb lasts maybe a year if not used all that often, the savings is even more. It's what economists call further opportunity savings. And, of course, the additional green benefits of reducing your personal carbon footprint are, like the television commercial says...Priceless.

Bringing the promotion across the pond to Fresh & Easy

We suggest to Fresh & Easy corporate management they follow the lead of corporate parent Tesco in the UK and launch a similar "cheap CFL" promotion in their 59 stores in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. Even selling the CFL's for ten cents each instead of a penny, will drive shoppers to the stores, fulfill some of the green and sustainable retailing pledges the grocer has made to the communities it's doing business in, and give the people (and the environment) a good deal.

There's a movement in the U.S. to ban incandescent light bulbs. It isn't moving as fast as other ban the 'fill in the blank' movements--such as plastic grocery bag bans--but its moving. It so happens the UK is ahead of the U.S. on banning the old bulbs at present--hence Tesco UK's penny-a-CFL promotion.

In fact, Tesco and other retailers in the UK have committed to stop selling the incandescent bulbs completely by 2011. However, the movement is gaining steam in the U.S. and we believe it will continue to do so. [Read more about the ban the bulb movement here.]

Piggy-backing on Tesco's current UK "one-penny-per-CFL bulb" promotion for Fresh & Easy in the U.S. would gain F&E some needed green credentials, offer shoppers (and potential new shoppers) a "green" deal, and create a little--and very much needed--excitement in the stores.