For our friends and partners in the retail world, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become the fulcrum point of their entire sales calendar with the potential to move their P&L from pink to black in a single weekend. And the pressure is huge—if you know anyone who works in retail, you may have noticed dark circles under their eyes as they work in preparation for the Super Bowl of Sales. It’s a fascinating business phenomenon, to say the least.
Since many of our energy sales clients are retail businesses, let’s commemorate this week by taking note of a few news items worth keeping on your radar:
- Target is leading the way, with over 200 MW of solar capacity in its capacity. The list also includes WalMart, Kohls, Costco, and Ikea. The message for your retail clients is clear: These big companies don’t make business decisions based on good vibes and a wish to save the Earth; they have analyzed the data, and they understand that the benefits of solar are real. For you to stay competitive, the time to get on board is now.
- Siemens, world’s largest industrial manufacturer, reduced its carbon emission by more than 25% and has pledged to be completely carbon neutral by the year 2030.
- GE Lighting, an industry leader in energy-efficient lighting, collaborated with 28 retailers and many utilities to promote awareness of ENERGY STAR®-certified products through store displays, coupons, bulb giveaways, demos, and retail markdown programs. GE Lighting donated more than 73,000 ENERGY STAR-certified LEDs to charity.
- Best Buy Co., Inc., world's largest consumer electronics retailer, sold enough ENERGY STAR-certified products since 2009 to save customers more than $500 million on utility bills.
- Food Lion, a food retailer currently owned by Ahold Delhaize with more than 1,100 grocery stores across the U.S, invested over $6 million to upgrade lighting on the sales floor with LEDs for more than 100 stores.
To wrap up, we’d like to make note of Selling Energy’s own Black Friday/Cyber Monday offer. The Selling Energy autographed hardback and audiobook gift set is now $15.00 (70% off) through end of the year. This is a perfect holiday gift to energize your sales team… a gift that keeps on giving. Gift-wrapping is available!
Whether you’re out at the stores, shopping from home, or just spending time with family, we hope you enjoy the weekend. And if you or a loved one are a retail worker—hang in there!
