TWICE COMMERCE

Insight of the week: Los Angeles County Sues PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Over Plastic Pollution🥤 (and greenwashing) →PepsiCo produces approximately 2.5 million metric tons of plastic. →Coca-Cola produces approximately 3.224 million metric tons of plastic. The LA lawsuit said Coca-Cola and PepsiCo: 1️⃣ Used “disinformation campaigns” about the recyclability of their plastic bottles. 2️⃣ Downplayed the negative environmental and health impacts of plastic disposal. It's great to see regulations which restrain the impacts of an industry, and greenwashing. 🖐🏻Thoughts?

Not-so-fun fact about circularity 👇 People still think circularity = recycling. But! Most products and materials are recycled long before it is needed, leaving the potential for use untapped. Circular model aims to: ✅ Give products more usable life cycles through repair, resale, and reuse. ✅ Encourage high-quality production/innovation to extend the the usable life of products and make them easier (and profitable) to repair. ✅ Increasing the number of times each product is used through business model innovation. ✅ And lastly, when the product is beyond repair, recycle the materials and components. See the difference? If we want to live on this planet - recycling alone won't do it for us.

The linear economy risks checklist📋 (or reasons why we need to switch to other economy models) We currently follow mainly ‘take-make-waste’ approach. Which has many risks↓ 📉Economic Inefficiency Currently the gross margin profiles are getting squeezed due to increasing costs of resources, labor, and regulation, which all eat already thin margins of retail. Meanwhile, consumers have less purchasing power, which means that the costs can't be transferred to end prices. 🏔Resource Depletion We're consuming resources faster than the Earth can keep up - 1.75 times the resources the Earth regenerates yearly. There are about $600 billion worth of things just sitting in people's homes in the U.S. alone, highlighting the need to redirect these items back into circulation instead of producing more. 🌍Environmental Impact Landfills overflow with non-biodegradable waste, and incineration releases harmful emissions, exacerbating climate change and air quality issues. Would you add anything? Let’s discuss👇

Greenwashing is a word du jour🧼🧽 50% of all environmental claims made online are exaggerated or false. Companies are constantly throwing "green" and "eco-friendly" around. How do you communicate your sustainable efforts correctly? ✅ Avoid buzzwords Eco, Green, 100% Sustainable, Natural, Organic, Recyclable, Refillable - are misleading. ✅ Quantifiable data Back up your words with the actual data: numbers and percentages. ✅ Unified language Unified language rather than clichés and fluffy words. ✅ Verifiable certifications Mention any audits or verifications by third-party organizations. Keep an eye out for any of these greenwashing habits 👀 🖐🏻What are your tips to spot greenwashing? Let us know in the comments↓

Weekly circular updates you NEED to know📝👇 Here is what happened this week: 1. Zara Pre-Owned Inditex launched its Zara Pre-Owned second-hand platform in the US. To extend the life of customers’ garments, contribute to the reduction of waste and the consumption of new raw materials. 2. Emissions Gap Report 2024 Global emissions exceeded 57 gigatonnes in 2023 for the first time in history and at current rates the world is on track for a 3.1C future. To meet the more ambitious target, countries must collectively commit to cut emissions 42% by the end of the decade and 57% by 2035, compared with 2019 levels. 3. Bestseller supply chain due diligence Bestseller launched a new report to provide greater transparency on the human rights, environmental and safety risks of its sourcing practices. 4. The Evolution of Sustainability in the Private Market Report: 11% of private equity backed portfolio companies have made long term commitments to net zero. 5. ASOSxHirestreet partnership ASOS and Hirestreet have teamed up to launch "the biggest retailer-rental collaboration the UK market has seen to date". In Q1 2024, Hirestreet said it saw a significant rise in demand for casual items – total items dispatched to customers increased by 200% year-on-year with 40% of items booked being casual pieces. Chat us up below. What do you think of recent news?

Want to raise profit margin of your rental business? Analyse your inventory. 1️⃣Forecast demand Critical for seasonal businesses that must forge when the iron is hot and optimize costs during the off-season. 2️⃣Recognize your most profitable products While most rental businesses need to carry also low-profit items in the inventory to cater to customer needs, it's essential to know which products raise the bottom line. 3️⃣Perform periodic inventory audits A process of checking a company's inventory levels against its financial records. → Verify your inventory value → Budget for new acquisitions → Optimize your fleet 4️⃣Build supplier relationships Good relationships with suppliers can unlock better deals, increase reliability, provide insights into emerging trends, and give you early access to new product lines. Focusing on honing your rental inventory management processes = focusing on customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and maximizing sales.

Insight of the week: Amazon’s discount store will sell $20 sofas🛋 Fast furniture. → Americans threw out over 12 million tons of furniture and furnishings in 2018 → Over 80% of it ended up in landfill That has obvious sustainability implications. How can we keep the economy growing without using new resources? With circular models: →Rentals →Resales →Subscriptions (the last option - recycling, which still can come with carbon emissions and relies on waste to begin with). We don't need more things - we need better economic models♻️ 🖐🏻Who agrees?

There are many different circles of the circular economy. From smallest to biggest in size↓ 1️⃣ Reuse/Repair 2️⃣ Remanufacture/Repurpose 4️⃣ Recycle The smaller the circle, the less time, effort, money, and margin are spent returning that product to a value stream. Think about something like a glass bottle: it's better to keep the glass bottle, wash it and reuse it as it is to try to melt that down at high temperatures and start all over again. Recycling can be a barrier to entry for companies interested in circularity, as they often assume it's all about recycled content. The market for recycled content is fiercely competitive, making it difficult to find the quantity at the right price point to bring into our supply chains as recycled content gains popularity. There are other levers we can pull to have circular operations that can deliver on margin wins for the company. We can shorten our supply chains if we don't start from the planet every single time.

Now, business has a choice... Linear or circular? While there are some concerns around circular models, now is the best time to jump in the wagon. Embracing a circular model isn't just a trend - it's a necessity. By transitioning to circularity, you: → contribute to a healthier planet → safeguard your competitiveness → tap into a market inclined to support sustainable initiatives Rewards are both environmental and economic.

4 companies that are seeing awesome results with circular business models. Models that are helping people choose circularity in their day-to-day. Shifting buying behavior and tendencies. → Grandpa's Shirts, pre-LOVED shirting. → 58 Facettes, first marketplace specializing in second-hand jewelry. → Alterist, upcycled fashion marketplace with a mission to reduce textile waste. → thelittleloop, enable the packaging circular economy and innovative digital marketing tools. Thanks for leading by example 🌎🙌 Got a brand that should be on this list? Share with us!