Our specialty is helping aspiring green manufacturers, distributors and dealers adapt and thrive in a challenging economic environment dominated by shifting household priorities, a rapidly evolving construction industry, and urgent sustainability issues. Informed by extensive experience in the "home channel", and in important sustainability movements like green building, permaculture and relocalization, we deliver practical strategies and programs that transform brands, meet the demand for better products, and put important innovations into the hands of the tradespeople and households who are remaking their communities.

Case study:

Plan-It Hardware

In 2006, a 160 year-old hardlines distributor launched the first comprehensive green merchandising program in the industry. The Green it Yourself program included a catalog of over 1500 screened products, a merchandising program, in-store signage, training program, and community outreach.

Needless to say, it was an innovation slightly ahead of its time, and there were hiccups and challenges along the way that taught many lessons. In the end, it served about 70 dealers in California and helped some of them become well-connected green leaders in their communities. More here.

Green Supply Blog:

Oil Dependency & the LBM Supply Chain

Published in Merchant Magazine and Building Products Digest, this month's column looks at long-term oil supply problems and the implications for home centers and LBM suppliers.
More here.

For the last few years, Jay been associate editor for Merchant Magazine and Building Products Digest writing a monthly column on a range of sustainability topics of concern to dealers and distributors in hardware, home improvement, lumber and building materials.