Solar at Sam's. Photo: Re-Nest.

Moving beyond their own supply chains, Walmart and Sam's Club are trying to help small businesses think about sustainability

An estimated 600,000 small-business owners or their employees walk through the doors of Sam’s Club every day. As part of parent company Walmart's relatively recent "conversion" to more sustainable business practices, officials at the company saw an opportunity to help green businesses besides their own—and in particular those very small businesses that frequent Sam's club—in a series of articles designed to help small-business owners succeed.

Contributing the first article (pdf) in the series, was Catherine Corley, Vice President of Small Business Insights at Sam’s Club. In the article, "How to Be Green and Stay Lean", Corley discusses how small businesses can implement sustainable practices that also benefit a company's bottom line. Specifically, Corley explores the definition of green, how to develop sustainability strategies and action plans as well as the dangers of greenwashing.

Corley starts out by defining green businesses and gives steps that owners should take to ensure that consumers know a company is sincere. She writes that businesses can increase their bottom line by creating interest in their sustainable initiatives and developing loyalty as a result of that interest and credibility as a result of that loyalty. But she also admits that this can be much easier for large companies with marketing budgets and generally more resources.

“Small-business owners are navigating through the complications of trying to run a socially responsible business on limited budgets,” said Corley, who recently spoke on the topic of greening business at a conference in California. Corley writes that small-business owners can combat this problem by setting goals, starting small and acting authentically.

Ultimately, protecting and growing the bottom line of the small businesses that shop at your store is just good business practices, because you hope that customer will come back for more. But charges of greenwashing can be incredibly damaging to a brand and to the long-term success of any business, large or small. Walmart Stores, Inc. seems to get that on some level — and they seem to think that helping other companies get it is also just good business practice.

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