Good for retail vs Good for the planet
Welcome to "Nouveau Monde", sort of a "Nouveau Genre" newsletter to better understand how to make the world better through the lens of retail. This is #4.
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Very Fast Delivery vs Climate
by Anthony
Dija, a delivery startup founded in November 2020, that already raised $20M, announced last week their launch in London.
What’s different from other services ? Well, they operate as a convenient store with about 2000 SKUs but in a kind of dark store and promise to deliver products in less than 10 minutes. In big cities of Europe and the US, we get used to 1 or 2 hours delivery and 30 minutes in Asia. But 10 minutes requires a very specific logistic.
This race to the fastest delivery raises questions around the impact of such services on our environment. And, as always around these topics, we can’t say if it’s all black or white.
A few takeaways regarding Dija and the speed delivery in general : this kind of service offers a convenient service for people willing to do their everyday grocery shopping, mostly by foot, with a low carbon footprint. And they replace it with a fleet of vehicles that will be put on the streets…
If you think about it deeper : what’s better between people going shopping individually with their own vehicles and a service which does it for you ?
We have a few studies regarding this question which seem to give an advantage to the delivery option : a pretty old research paper (2010 !) suggests that for non food purchases, home delivery is better regarding CO2 emissions than in-store. Which could be counter intuitive.
Back to Dija and its 10 minutes delivery, it could be really interesting to investigate deeper as they scale up and see if an optimized supply chain with dark stores and a fleet of electric vehicles has a lower impact on CO2 emissions.
One good point regarding the social criteria : they have decided to hire their drivers instead of using on-demand gig workers.
One certain thing : it’s better for your health to walk a few blocks to get your groceries than getting them delivered…
Viva New Sustainable Chipotle!
by Phil
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., often known simply as Chipotle, is an American chain of fast casual restaurants in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and France. The company is specialized in tacos and Mission burritos that are made to order in front of the customer. Its name derives from chipotle, the Nahuatl name for a smoked and dried jalapeño chili pepper. Right. That food, isn’t’ it? But it seems that the firm decided to diversify its activities and rewards somehow the fans of their chicken burrito bow or their cilantro-lime cauliflower rice with something new.
If you get curious of the wikipedia page of this brand, you will notice how many times they had food safety issues and outbreaks the past years, not speaking about the data breaches… But they won’t make another mistakes by being a more sustainable looking company, right?
Now listen: Chipotle Mexican Grill announced it is launching Chipotle Goods, including a responsibly sourced apparel collection made with organic cotton, and branded accessories available… exclusively for Chipotle Rewards members. The collection will feature an open-looped line of Chipotle apparel, dyed with up-cycled avocado pits from its restaurants as well as branded unisex gear. Recycling the pits, see? Each unique piece from the avocado dyed collection requires five avocado pits, equivalent to five orders of guac, depending upon the season and size of the fruit. We’re not counting the amount of water we need to grow those five of course.
All profits from the collection will go toward supporting organizations that are focused on making fashion or farming more sustainable. And serving food still sustainable, hopefully. A longstanding advocate (funny right?) for social responsibility, Chipotle has supported organic cotton farmers through uniform purchases since 2012, making it one of the largest buyers of Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) cotton in the U.S.
"With Chipotle Goods, our fans can get quality items that support sustainable agriculture and represent our mission of cultivating a better world", said Chris Brandt, Chief Marketing Officer. Welcome to the Nouveau Monde of marketing.
Update: the restaurant chain announced it is partnering with cosmetics company e.l.f. Cosmetics featuring vegan and cruelty-free makeup. Along with the makeup line, Chipotle is launching a new limited menu option called the "Eyes. Chips. Face. Bowl," a vegan entrée. Don’t mix it up, people.
Oh, and bon appétit, of course!
Bonus track
hey gringo !