It's no more ATAWAD anymore
It's no more ATAWAD anymore
Welcome to "nouveau monde", a four-handed newsletter to better understand how to make the world better through the lens of retail. This is #56. It's still going, Mum.
Thanks for reading Nouveau Monde! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.
Le menu du jour at nouveau monde is about sobriety and H&M moves in sustainability.
Today's newsletter is 1,044 words, a 5-minutes read.
Read, like, share, subscribe :-)
Sober, different kinds of
by Anthony
My eyes have been caught this week by a great article on The Conversation, in French that I’ll try here to translate and summarize !
Since 60 years, the French retail industry grew on a model combining an always wider offer at always a lower price on a growing contact points, physical and nowadays digital : ATAWAD : any time, anywhere, any device.
During that time, French annual consomption did a 4x in quantity. This model is challenged today. The authors (academic people) tried to identify 3 kind of people emerging from this transition :
Concerned people
Concerned people are what they call people who are aware that they need to change their behavior but are more in a reactive mode. They seek for information, want to know where the products they buy come from, what they are composed of but still go to supermarkets even if they mix it with organic stores or even cooperative ones. They tend to buy in bulk, use reusable bags. They don’t necessarily reduce their consumption but try to make it more local.
Sufficient people
They are more in an active mode : they are insensitive to trends and try to delay their purchases. They buy only what they need, especially for their food purchase. For the non food products, they select the products by their durability, their ability to be easily repaired, and are ready to pay a bonus for that durability. They try to select the best merchants, the ones that will be able to offer them the best advices and ensure their longevity.
Alternative people
These ones tend to stay far from traditional merchants and supply. They focus on recovery, donation, auto production or swap between people. They are proactive as they spend a lot of time to build these networks and really want to detach themselves from the hyper consumption society and want to deny the “everything, right now” claim.
When they need to buy things, they favor short circuits and tend to organize themselves to go straight to the producers which needs some supply tools to store goods. They are in a decommodification logic that keep them away from classical distribution.
The main fact between these three models is that they all are aware that we need to change our consumption habits but that we don’t have a real plan to do so, so everybody needs to build its own path. The authors of the article suggest merchants to take the role of “custom fitters” to help concerned and sufficient people understand their role in their consumption while trying to reassure alternative people. Get away from this :
And think about their new role in that post-growth society that is emerging. Fascinating !
Sustainability à la mode with H&M
by Phil
As seen on CB insights…
H&M is aiming to incorporate sustainability into its plans for the future.
The clothing retailer has placed a particular emphasis on supporting the recycling and resale of used clothing and textiles. To this end, it has established business relationships with a wide variety of organizations, including:
Lyft to back its garment collecting program.
Lyft, Inc. is a company based in San Francisco, California, that offers mobility as a service, ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery in the United States and select cities in Canada.
Back in early 2019, H&M announced teaming up with Lyft to provide free rides to New Yorkers interested in donating clothing to H&M's Garment Collecting program. Starting January 22 through January 27 of that year, the first 5,000 H&M customers interested in donating clothing could use a specific promo code to claim a free ride up to $10 to any H&M location in New York City. Customers did also receive 15 percent off their H&M purchase in return for a donation of unwanted garments, from any brand and in any condition.
Ombori to develop a smart recycling bin
OmboriGrid AB is part of Ombori Group, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The company specializes in creating technology that creates seamless customer journeys encompassing both the physical and online worlds, using IoT, mobile apps, and in-store installations.
H&M turned to Ombori in 2020, whose platform offers digital experiences in physical spaces, to create its first smart recycling bins at its flagship store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. The bins added a twist to just dropping off used clothes in a recycling bin: the interactive screens offer customers a sense of reward for joining H&M’s effort to cut carbon emissions.
The smart bin was launched in January 2020 in Manhattan and has since been rolled out to H&M stores in Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta and Houston. The screens display real-time data about recycling volumes from its stores across major cities.
Animal Crossing to promote the launch of its garment recycling machine in virtual worlds
H&M has enlisted Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams back in 2021 for its debut on smash hit video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with a sustainability-themed island designed to promote the brand's recently launched garment recycling machine Looop.
A digital twin of Williams, called "Avatar Maisie", has been created by 3D animators at Goodbye Kansas Studio to appear in a launch film for the project. Joanna Nordahl directed the film through New Land.
Sellpy to enable consumers to buy and sell pre-owned clothing
H&M announced back in 2021 becoming majority owner in Sting alumn Sellpy, Sweden’s largest second-hand e-commerce company. Sellpy was founded in 2014 to make it easier to sell old things and clothing. H&M has previously invested in the fast-growing second-hand e-commerce company, which has gone from three to 350 employees in four years.
Bonus track by Anthony
You can access the full nouveau monde playlist here on Spotify.
Thanks for reading Nouveau Monde! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.
No more and anymore was a bit too much but I liked the sound of it