Thursday, December 31, 2009
Environmental-friendly cooling: Port-A-Cool evaporative cooler
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tesco lives the green life: Play the game!
Which is why Tesco has just launched Greener Living
Organic food firm introduces wool packaging
Monday, October 5, 2009
Job vacancy Jos de Vries The Retail Company: Creative director Branding & Communication
Jos de Vries The Retail Company develops and realizes international progressive retail concepts with a right balance of creativity and commercial profitability. With conceptual thinking we work on the vision of the clients. This results into the realization of commercial succesfull store formulas with an own identity. Next to the central office in Maarssen (The Netherlands) we have offices in Spain, Germany and Russia.
We are on the search of a Creative Director Branding & Communication.
In this job you will be responsable for the development of the brand strategy and graphic communication for several international accounts in our agency. You work together with other creative directors (3D) to realize a total concept. Internally and externally you will be the contact person for the quality of the proejct as well as the progress of the project. You will manage the project team. Together with the management team you will decide the company vision and the strategical policy in the area of branding and communication. You are responsable for your turn-over, you will play an active role in the marketing and communication of our office. With your unique combination of creativity and commercial perception you are an inspiring partner for our clients and colleagues developing progressive retail concepts.
You will work from our head office in Maarssen (The Netherlands) and your working area will be whole Europe.
Background and education:
- Graphical design education at university level
- Several years of experience in the world of retail design with project responsability
- Inspiring personality with vision and power to convince
- Experience with communication on management level
- Prepareness to work independently as well as operating in project teams
- Knowledge of the European retail market
- Strongly developed sense for marketing and communication
- Excellent command of spoken and written English and German
- Availability to frequent travelling
For more information on our organization check http://www.josdevries.eu. For personal adjustments you can contact Jasmijn Prinssen by telephone +31 346 563764.
We look forward to receive your curriculum vitae and cover letter by e-mail info@josdevries.eu or by post: Jos de Vries The Retail Company BV, Postbus 1194, 3600 BD Maarssen.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Lessons in LEED: LEED supermarket green building program and its efforts to earn LEED certification.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tesco uses new software to reduce emissions
Tesco has completed a deal with CA ecoSoftware, a carbon accounting technology supplier, that will enable the retailer to track progress on emission reduction in advance of forthcoming carbon legislation.
A Tesco statement confirmed: "Tesco has implemented CA ecoSoftware to help increase the efficiency, speed and accuracy of its carbon accounting process, enabling the company to more effectively track progress in pursuit of its ambitious carbon reduction goals."
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
International retailers adapt 'green' plans into Chinese retail market
"Eco-friendly"', "sustainable" and "low carbon dioxide" are not just buzz words for international enterprises like French retailer Carrefour. They are part of their most ambitious and concrete targets for the future.
Thousands of lights, non-stop refrigeration facilities and large compounds of air conditioners make for a nice shopping environment, but they are also very energy-consuming.
In a bid to become more eco-friendly, big enterprises such as Carrefour and Wal-Mart are now implementing sophisticated technology to decrease that consumption.
Even as Carrefour plans to open 20-25 new stores in China, its focus will be on energy saving and environmental protection.
Click here to read further.
Source: China Daily
Chinese Domestic retailers still new at 'green' efforts
Customers shop in a Wal-Mart store in Shanghai. Foreign retail chains are leading the way in developing environmentally friendly stores in China, according to China Chain Store and Franchise Association. [CFP]
International retailers are leading their domestic peers in environmental protection and energy-saving campaigns, a recent report by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association (CCFA) stated.
French retail giant Carrefour Group invested more than 200 million yuan in renovation and reconstruction of existing stores last year to make them more energy efficient.
Existing outlets are expected to reduce energy consumption by 15 percent after renovation and reconstruction.
Its new stores under construction are all energy-saving outlets. The energy consumption at these outlets will be 20 percent lower than old ones, according to the company.
US-based retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc has said that compared to a typical store in 2005, its new outlets consume 23 percent less electricity and 17 percent less water annually.
The CCFA report showed that energy-saving efforts by Chinese retailers focus mainly on saving electricity on air conditioning, lights and refrigeration.
Since 2007, many Chinese retailers have started renovations at existing stores, and some have expanded energy-conservation efforts to office areas, distribution locations and logistics centers.
Energy-saving lighting
The Ministry of Commerce has promoted an Energy Conservation Campaign among retailers since 2007 to help them reduce energy costs by 20 percent by 2010.
A CCFA survey said that from 2007 until 2008, an average retail enterprise invested 500,000 yuan to 3 million yuan for renovations of a store for environmental and energy purposes.
But the bulk of enterprises invested less than 500,000 yuan per store, according to the survey.
The survey said that retailers usually need one to three years to recover their investment.
About 81 percent of polled retailers regarded adoption of energy-saving technologies as the most effective way to reduce their energy consumption.
And 41 percent thought energy-saving management is also crucial, according to the report.
Using the energy consumption of China's top 100 retail companies in 2008, the CCFA reports that their 120,000 outlets can save 1.7 billion kWh of electricity and 1.6 million tons of carbon dioxide annually when they realize the 20 to 30 percent of energy reduction in renovated stores.
Retail chains also can guide their customers' way of shopping and promote environmental friendly and recycling ideas, according to the report.
In the first year of China's plastic bag ban, retailers helped the country reduce the use of more than 40 billion plastic bags.
Source: China Daily
Monday, September 14, 2009
Shoppers cars soon will be able to power supermarkets
The system uses the same type of technology Formula 1 cars use to convert kinetic energy created during braking into speed.
The scheme at the Gloucester Quays store demonstrates the potential of kinetic energy to generate enormous amounts of electricity.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1193070/Shoppers-cars-soon-able-power-supermarkets.html#ixzz0R469pwRO
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Super de Boer (NL) opens new sustainable supermarket
Super De Boer opened yesterdayits news sustainable supermarket in the city of Delfzijl, located in the North of The Netherlands. The renovated supermarket is now twice as big as the former supermarket, with an assortiment of 3.000 new articles. The green supermarket uses energy-friendly cooling equipment to save the environment. The store was opened on the Dutch Day of Sustainability, which was celebrated yesterday the 09-09-2009.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Tesco, UK´s leading food retailer, will open the world´s first zero-carbon store
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
LED light for free at Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn
Intomart research shows that the Dutch population does not yet know the advantages of LED lighting. 90% of the respondents does not know that LED light is more energy efficient, and also the life-time of 20 years is not known. As mentioned yesterday the glow bulb disappears from the Dutch retail landscape. The WNF and Nationale Postcode Loterij (National Lotery) work together in promoting energy-efficient lighting. All the participants of the campaign “What LED you” can obtain a free LED light at the Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn.
Plus Retail (NL) offers biological house wine
Albert Heijn Pure and Honoust sustaining fishing policy
The Albert Heijn Puur & Eerlijk range consists of five categories. These five categories are: AH Puur & Eerlijk biological food, fairtrade, sustainable fishing, free-range animals and ecological products. All the product groups are grouped under one brand name and one type of, environmental-friendly, packaging. The sustainability of the AH Puur & Eerlijk products are guaranteed by independent external organizations.
All the sustainable fish products under the AH Puur & Eerlijk are certified with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). The MSC is an independent international non-profit organisation aiming to reduce the overfishing. Therefor MSC developed an environment standard for sustainable and well maintained fisheries.
The MSC standard looks at following points:
1. The situation of the fish, crustacean and shell fish level
2. The impact of the fishing on the eco system
3. The maintaine system of the fishery
Worldwide the seas and oceans see an increasing impact of the their situation by overfishing and damaging fishing techniques. AH puur&eerlijk sustainable fishing offers with the MSC-certificate an extra security for the origen of sustainable fish.
More information about MSC
Mora information about Albert Heijn and sustainable fish
More information about WNF
More information about AH and WNF
Source Pictures and Text: Albert Heijn
Albert Heijn Pure and Honoust assortment of Ecological products
Albert Heijn Puur & Eerlijk Sustainable Categories
Purely ecological
The new range of AH Puur & Eerlijk ecological products save the environment, reducing the packaging to a minimum and the building material are selected to be disolved earlier.
Two Ecological Certificates
The AH Puur & Eerlijk ecological brand have 2 ecological certificates: Nordic Swan and De Blauwe Engel (“The Blue Angel”). Both international certificates work together with the "Nederlandse Milieukeur", but have stronger regulations.
Regulations De Blauwe Engel Certificate
De Blauwe Engel is the German alternative of Nordic Swan. This quality mark also judges if the product is less damaging to the environment. The quality mark is one of the oldest and most famous ecoloical quality marks, founded back in 1978. The knowledge based is on the years of experience can be seen in the checks and strong regulations. Just like Nordic Swan the products with the quality mark of De Blauwe Engel save the environment.
Conditions Nordic Swan quality brand
An ecological product with Nordic Swan logo states that this products is one of the most environmental friendly products possible. The conditions to obtain a Nordic Ecolabel look at raw materials, production, materials and even the life cycle of the products. The production, quality and the functionality need to cumply high environmental standards. These criteria differ per group of products.
Source text and pictures: http://www.ah.nl/artikel?trg=assortiment/article.inleiding.ecologisch
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Albert Heijn Pure and Honoust assortment of Biological products
Albert Heijn Puur & Eerlijk Sustainable Categories
Biological food is pure and honoust
Criteria EKO-certificate
A product can only be considered biological when an official organization checked if the product and processes cumply the rules. In The Netherlands the organization Skal is checking all the Dutch biological companies that they follow up the the strict rules for biological production. Only when they meet the standaards they will obtain the EKO-certificate. This certificate guarantees the consumers they buy real biological food products.
Skal-company
Every year each biological company gets a visit of an inspector, next to the unannounced visits. Skal checks the food, spaces, animals and stocks. Biological farms cannot use or posess artificial manure and chemical-synthetic insecticides. Animal welfare, the space and how the farmer takes care of the animals, is the main point of attention. The inspector can take samples of material to have it checked later on.
Check troughout the distribution chain
Not only the farms get visits from Skal, but also the biological manufacturers. The origen of the biological ingredients and raw material are checked. Biological bread for example needs to be made out of biological flour. The whole distribution channel from farmer to supermarket is checked, and if everything is allright the products will obtain the EKO-certificate for guaranteed biological product.
More information about the EKO-certificate
Monday, August 31, 2009
Glow bulbs disappear out of the shelves
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Carrefour China goes green
Energy saving renovations in the chain's stores will feature new refrigeration methods, new air-conditioning technology and new lighting. Stores are being revamped in order to accommodate the new measures in energy renovation.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
UK Retailer Tesco will mention the emission of CO2 on their milk packaging
Tesco explains that, independent, researches show that over 50% of the population knows what the meaning of carbon footprint is. One year ago just 32% of the population knew the meaning of carbon footprint. Over 50% of the clients of Tesco say that they take the effect on the environment of the products into account.
The largest amount of emission of CO2 for milks happens at the farms. Tesco works together with these farms to reduce this amount, therefor they set up the groups: Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group and Dairy Centre of Excellence. These groups are responsable for the better quality of animal food and the use of renewable energy sources.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
UK Supermarket chain Sainsbury's reduces amount of plastic in packaging
The Amcor company is also speaking with other retailers to see if they can introduce their new packaging method there also.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Tesco: Greener Living Program for a green and sustainable future
Important part of their green program is the Sustainable Consumption Research Insitute, which is a 25 million pound investment, where together with the University of Manchester Tesco is working to find new ways to improve the environment. It is part of their commitment to a greener, sustainable future and will look for the best green solutions in retail.
The UK retailer is also working with audited and certified farms to assure a high standard of animal welfare, this accounts for all their UK meat, poultry, eggs and farmed fish suppliers. They seek to buy their seafood from responsible managed fisheries, in order to maintain a viable and long-term future for wild fish and shelfish populations.
http://www.tesco.com/greenerliving/
http://www.greenretailingnews.blogspot.com
http://www.jdv-trc.blogspot.com
Thursday, August 13, 2009
UK supermarket chain Marks & Spencer awarded for eco-friendly fishing policy
Marks & Spencer has been recognised for their eco-friendly fishing with the MCS´ sustainable fishing awards.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Editorial New York Times: Can Wal-Mart Be Sustainable?
Recently, Wal-Mart has been rolling out plans for what it calls a sustainability index — a measure of how green the products it sells really are. It is asking each of its suppliers, an enormous list of businesses, 15 questions about the life of their products from manufacturing through disposal: questions about greenhouse gas emissions, social responsibility, waste reduction initiatives and water use.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
100% ECO Hygienic Paper available at the supermarkets of Albert Heijn and Coop (The Netherlands)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Interview international supermarket news: Marks & Spencer Director of Plan A and sustainable business, about the eco-friendly cause
Monday, August 3, 2009
The collaboration of French retail giant Carrefour and WWF
The plan of sustainable forest Management, includes information of suppliers in order to guarantee the traceability of the wood and demonstrate the origen and sustainability of the wood products. The objective is to offer a full range of 100% FSC certified wood products in the assortment of all the international hypermarkets.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Coca Coca In the Netherlands focuses on a healthy, active life style and a sustainable environment.
This means that they have the objective to recycle 85% of the bottles and cans. The bottles have already been changed, they have less weigth, reducing the amount of garbage. In The Netherlands the big bottles incluye some deposit to recycle these bottles. For the smaller bottles and cans this does not exist (yet), they are working on a new recycling system for these smaller bottles. This new recycle concept “Recycling Kit” is now being tested. The sales of these smaller amounts happen a lot in Shopping areas and at service stations, therfor when the test works out well, they will roll-out this recycling point concept into further areas.
Coca Cola, based in Dronten the South of The Netherlands, obtains sustainable water from their own mineral water source (current 87% of the total). The objetive is to be water neutral before 2020, therefor they need to re-use water.
At the website of Coca Cola you can find the commitments of Coca Cola with the environment.
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/environment.html
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Jos de Vries The Retail Company launches at LinkedIn the Group Innovative Retail Concepts
We invite you to join this group and follow the news and to have discussions with other retail professionals.
Regards,
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
How to find the right balance in creating the green store concept
Green buildings may be good for the environment but they also need to take into account shopping value and the comfort of the shopper. Removing all the air-conditioning could well reduce the quality of fresh produce and lead to overheated customers leaving the store.
Climate neutral, biological tomatoes at Dutch supermarket chain Dekamarkt
Green supermarket gets energy from their clients
This supermarket already works with sun and wind energy. With this new application the supermarket thinks to save 30kW energy per hour, comparable with the energy consumption of all cooling and freezers in the supermarket.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Carrefour Belgium: buying green energy in the supermarket
Sainsbury´s key points of green retail
- Reducing the carbon footprint
- Reducing waste
- Reducing packaging
- Green pilot store, green supermarket of the future
- Reduce, re-use, recycle
Furthermore you can see the key commitments of the retailer.
- Best for food and health
- Sourcing with integrity
- Respect for our environment
- Making a positive difference to our community
- A great place to work.
Click here for more information on Sainsbury´s
US green grocer PCC offers green, organic, local and sustainable products.
The website Faircompanies.com made a report on one of the biggest green supermarkets of the United States, the retail chain PCC. This store sells for 95% organic products, locally produced and sustainable. The supermarket of the movie is located in Seatlle, you can see how their production selection works and how they communicate where the products are from and how they are made. They have an impressive assortment of all types of organic and fairtrade products.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Biological supermarket concept Ekoplaza trendsetter in The Netherlands with biological and reform products
Ekoplaza is a Dutch biological supermarket concept which promotes natural food products. In the 4 supermarkets in The Netherlands consumers can find biological food products with the best reform quality. This concept before was known as “natureshop” but 2 years ago a transformation of the concept resulted into the new EkoPlaza concept.
The products directly go from the field to the EkoPlaza stores and are all biologically produced, meaning that no insecticide is used and that the products are made with respect to the nature and the environment and all the health aspects of humans and Earth.
The green message of US Retailer Whole Foods Market
Communication of origen of green products in retail: example Plus Retail (NL)
GfK researches the green consumers with their Sustainable Consumer Monitor for Supermarkets
The report shows that there are 3 different groups of sustainable consumers: open-minded, organics and demanding. The report states that in The Netherlands there are over 3,9 million households that belong to one of these groups (over 50% of the total number of households in The Netherlands).
The consumers that belong to the group openminded are interested in the animal welfare. Organic consumers think about the environment and the demanding consumers look at social equaility and honest retailing. This research is very interesting for the food retailers. When for example a supermarket attracts a lot of open-minded clients, the supermarket can offer a wide assortment of meat replacement products. A supermarket that has a lot of demanding visitors can offer more fairtrade-products.
The reason why these consumers purchase more and more green and fairtrade products is that they think they support the environment and the animal welfare.