SM Retail, a subsidiary of SM Investments Corporation and the country’s biggest retailer, is seeing more Filipinos shifting their preference to more earth-friendly and sustainable products thanks to the SM Green Finds Program.
SM Store’s Green Finds advocacy aims to promote Green Living, under the broader SM Green Movement Campaign, by making it easy for Filipinos to live sustainably with the ready availability of products that are eco-friendly, made from natural and local ingredients, and support local communities.
The program also gives businesses, particularly MSMEs, a venue to showcase and sell their green products, thus making their sustainable practices economically viable and allow them to grow. By providing them greater reach through SM Stores nationwide, these MSMEs are able to scale their products and make them available to more consumers.
Green Finds was launched in 2022, and since then the portfolio of sustainable SKUs have grown to 16,000 across 16 Business Units.
SM Store initially launched the Green Finds program mid 2022 in 5 stores and continues to expand its reach in 2023, with a nationwide rollout across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
“SM Green Finds makes Green Living accessible. We offer a wide range of products and price points for every consumer. We provide options for our customers who wish to do intentional purchases, thinking of not only their essentials but also their planet and at the same time, providing them the opportunity to support local communities,” said Mr. Dhinno Tiu, EVP of the SM Store.
To make green living easily accessible for its customers, The SM Store curates products from their pool of supplier partners that qualify as green and eco-friendly. The intention is to visually make these sustainable products easy to spot by attaching Green Finds labels or placing them in special Green Finds sections that are attractive and distinct.
But the campaign does not end there, once the attention of the customer is captured, well-trained and knowledgeable personnel step in to carefully explain to them the importance of sustainable living and what makes these products green and Earth-friendly.
The customers are educated on how these products are carefully made with green materials and manufactured conscientiously through processes that are sustainable. Also highlighted are third party certifications to ensure that these sustainability claims have been verified and are legitimate.
With the aggressive expansion of the Green Finds Program well underway, The SM Store aims to further grow the number of products that qualify as green and sustainable and increase its share in store space as well as in sales.
Since its maiden launch last year, transactions have increased by 10 percent year on year.
SM as the industry leader and the largest marketplace plays a pivotal role in positively impacting consumer behavior and in enabling and fueling an ecosystem that will bring consumers and suppliers together to shift to a more sustainable way of life for the Filipinos.