McMillanDoolittle and bgood collective Tackle Sustainability in Retail

McMillanDoolittle and the cofounders of NYC-based sustainability agency bgood collective (pictured) are pleased to announce they have entered into a strategic partnership, combining McMillanDoolittle’s industry leading expert strategic planning with bgood collective’s experienced sustainability specialty.

Sustainability Has Entered the Forefront of Consumer Preferences (Finally)

McMillanDoolittle has commented on sustainability in retail since the mid-2000’s, when we published our book, Greentailing and Other Revolutions in Retail  – which documents the opportunities we foresaw for retailers and suppliers to capitalize on the growing consumer demand for organic, sustainable, and socially conscious products and services.  Once the Great Recession took hold, we observed a softening in demand as well as decreased scrutiny for products marketed as good for the environment in favor of those that delivered the greatest value.  In the fifteen years since its publication, demand for environmentally responsible products and business practices has gradually rebounded and is increasingly becoming table stakes for global brands and retailers.

Sustainable Strategies Are Becoming Critical in Today’s Business Environment

More recently, our team published the joint post-pandemic study Sustainable Brands and Retail by Ebeltoft Group, a global alliance of brand and retail consultants of which McMillanDoolittle is a founding member.  We argue that sustainability and social values are becoming widely recognized as a source of competitive advantage that not only bring in more customers, but can also save money, resources, and ultimately drive profit, and thus a more sustainable business and planet.  We find that retailers are already taking aggressive action to move forward with their sustainability initiatives that impact not only their own operations but also those of their supplier base and other partners.  These actions are having a trickle-down effect on the rest of the retail market – where retail companies large and small and their suppliers and partners are under increasing pressure to define and report on their sustainability plans and deliver real, measurable results that have positive impact both on the business and ESG outcomes.

Advancements in Sustainability Require Cross-functional Industry Collaboration

With sustainability playing an increasingly critical role in the minds of consumers and board rooms, retailers recognize they need to adopt new ways of working to influence consumers, decrease negative environmental impacts, and drive sustainable business results. Recently McMillanDoolittle supported a collaborative effort led by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy and its Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag with a playbook of solutions to reduce single-use plastic bags in retail.  Through this engagement, we led dozens of in-depth interviews with diverse retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Ulta Beauty to capture insights across marketing, merchandising, store operations, product development, sourcing and procurement, legal, and more.  Our work resulted in a detailed playbook of interventions to help tackle plastic waste from the 100 billion single-use bags used per year in the US and influence consumers to bring their own bag.

McMillanDoolittle + bgood collective Offer Full-Service Sustainability Consulting

Our exciting new partnership with bgood collective enables our team to provide complete sustainability services to our clients, addressing sustainability goals and developing measurable action plans:

• Strategy Development and Planning: Create strategies customized to a company’s needs to identify key areas of impact and create plans to integrate sustainability into an organization.Establish goals, targets, and actionable frameworks with key focus on:
  • Carbon Emissions and Energy Management
  • Circular Business Models

• Sustainability and ESG Reporting: Develop sustainability and ESG framework and reporting for an organization and establish goals and targets. Help navigate industry standards, policies, and regulations.
• Assessment and Certification: Guide an organization through a materiality assessment and implementation of industry specific certification programs.Set baseline measurements and monitor progress toward internal company goals.
• Sustainability Advisory: Provide transitional or on-going support where needed to help drive sustainability initiatives and long-term implementation success. Advisory support in Planning, ESG, Certifications, and Communications.

Our joint team is proud to continue supporting clients in tackling critical sustainability issues in their businesses.  If you’re looking for support creating more sustainable strategies and driving impact in your business, contact us for a complimentary consultation. 

About bgood collective

bgood collective is a female-founded sustainability agency. We are a group of like-minded change agents from retail, consulting and non-profit backgrounds and believe in using our collective expertise and passion as a force for good to drive sustainable solutions. We partner with clients to develop strategies, grow enterprises, manage turnaround or change in the organization.  Read more about Founder Rabia Farhang and Co-founder Johanna Masket here.

About McMillanDoolittle

McMillanDoolittle is an internationally renowned retail consulting firm that transforms insights and expertise into strategic, customized retail solutions. Our approach is built on a foundation of personal attention and unparalleled, hands-on experience in all facets of the retail industry. We track innovation across segments, researching and evaluating emerging concepts and best practices, and providing customer solutions for our clients.