One of the best holidays (I guess you can call it that?) is just around the corner. Halloween!
For candy stores, costume retailers, and retail giants (like Wal-Mart and Costco), Halloween is a significant season of more customers, which means more sales, which means more revenue.
As I was walking through Costco with my mom on the weekend, I noticed the big boxes of chocolates priced for only $9.99 a box. On the other hand, I found a bulk of organic, “green” chocolates for $39.99 from some advertising email I got. I couldn’t believe it! The price on environmentally, earth-friendly products are clearly, undoubtedly on an exponential rise.
This reminded me of the Class 10: Sustainability, with guest prof James Tansey. He brought up this term and how it integrates logically with business. To me, it never occurred that environment and commerce go hand in hand, but clearly it does.
Businesses, like Endangered Species Chocolate, target those environmentally friendly, nature-lovin’ consumers who are willing to give up an extra buck (or many more) for “natural, ethical, premium” (as stated on their website) chocolates. People give in to these kind of purchases because they can brand THEMSELVES as environmentally conscious consumers, or maybe they really do have an honest concern for Mother Nature. Whatever it is, these high priced products do sell.
It’s very apparent that sustainability is on a rise, especially in the commerce world. Environmentally friendly enterprises, like Endangered Species Chocolate, are slowly taking their toll in almost every aspect of business. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing (well, maybe for our wallets), but taking on this kind of corporate social responsibility will leave our kids, grand-kids, and grand-grand-kids with a liveable and beautiful Earth, like the one we have today.