Why Go Green?
“The biggest concern these days seems to be global warming. Fear of global warming…has renewed interest in environmentalism…“[And] with rows of organic products at the grocery store and celebrities arriving at the Oscars in hybrid vehicles, [it seems] environmentalism is finally taking hold”.
So what does that mean for manufacturers, distributors and retailers? End-users are demanding that green products be made readily available.
They are beginning, in great numbers, to favor distributors who carry
green products and distributors are, in turn, putting pressure on their suppliers to add green options to their product lines. Anyone who wants to keep up is being forced to jump on the green bandwagon.
But the right choice isn’t always the cheap choice…
In a perfect world, the green choice would be the only choice. Having the freedom to make the environmentally responsible choice as a consumer is valuable outside the range of dollars and cents. It should be a choice that’s made without concern for the cost. It is not, however, always that way.
Distributors and end-users are forced to weigh the pros and cons of their purchase choices constantly: If I spend now, will I save later? Is it worth the money to be green? Does it work as well? Can I sell this?
When it comes to icemelt, this is definitely the case. Why? Because the environmentally-choice has a higher price tag. Customers that make buying decisions based solely on price are hard pressed to see the
justification in spending more.
XYNYTH Manufacturing Corp. works hard to solve this dilemma for their customers. After more than three decades in the industry, we’re proud to be able to make it both affordable and gainly for customers to make the environmentally friendly choice. In order to help you to convey this sentiment to your customers, they have put together this Cost Benefit Analysis. It’s important to remember that XYNYTH has a number of environmentally friendly icemelter options unlike anything else on the market today.
How do I justify spending more?
People have been using sodium chloride (NaCl), or rock salt, to meet their ice melting needs for years, unaware or unconcerned about the enormously negative effect that salt has on the environment: Salt is toxic to surrounding vegetation, damaging to soil, and it ends up in our waterways destroying ecosystems.
One of XYNYTH Manufacturing Corp.’s environmentally friendly icemelter product choices, Mountain Organic Natural Icemelter™ contains a large percentage of potassium (K), a fundamental ingredient in fertilizers, and therefore safe for use on or near vegetation. Moreover, unlike sodium chloride, potassium is actually an essential and primary nutrient required by all plants. Tests have shown it has no deleterious
effects on soil or the quality of surface water. Further, potassium has a counteracting effect on the impairments caused by salt, thus acting to repair soil damaged by years of rock salt usage. And consumers care about their stuff, so it’s important to note that Mountain Organic Natural Icemelter™ has no deleterious effort on concrete.
Unfortunately, customers often make the mistake of comparing an environmentally-friendly icemelt with the old stand-by, rock salt. Rock salt is cheaper, of course, at first and people are sidetracked by that. It has been XYNYTH’s main focus to get people to open their minds to the idea that spending more at the check-out counter can, in this case, represent some major cost savings in the long run. And, as one distributor put it:
“The health of environment is worth a few extra pennies too.”
But it goes beyond that – our customers see evidence of the savings all year long, savings to both the environment and their pocket books. Says a long time XYNYTH Sales Rep: “You can’t compare Mountain to salt, it’s not comparing apples to apples. Salt may be cheaper at first, but by using it you’re destroying the environment, your landscaping, your concrete and your flooring. You can’t use it around kids and pets.
Mountain not only provides peace of mind that you’re using something safe, it’s not going to damage the walkways and floors in a building. That means maintenance savings.
Paying more up front can mean paying less for the rest of the year…
It is difficult to determine the exact dollars and cents savings achieved by choosing XYNYTH’s potassium based icemelters over a non environmentally friendly options as there are simply too many unknown parameters. But the savings could be substantial due to the following:
· Be a steward for the environment to attract new customers: Simply by demonstrating to the public that you consider environmental health an important issue, a company will attract positive press and new customers, so an important economical benefit is the improved PR enjoyed by using an environmentally friendly icemelter. As per Heather Kauffman-Peters in May 2007 Hardware Retailing: “Retailers unable to upgrade store systems or erect eco-friendly buildings can still have an
environmental impact through the products they choose to stock on their shelves. A wider customer draw will inevitably result in increased sales.”
· Less product required: Because XYNYTH’s eco-friendly products like Mountain Organic Natural Icemelter, GroundWorks Natural Icemelter or its new Arctic ECO Green Icemelter are so powerful and work effectively to low temperatures, less product per square foot per application is required, resulting in monetary savings. End-users are required to use less and store less product throughout the season. Exact savings, of course, depend on the precise temperature, the thickness and density of ice and the expanse of ground being treated.
· Save on maintenance costs: Because XYNYTH’s eco-friendly products will not damage concrete or landscaping. Customers can use it around their buildings and entryways free from fear that it will have a deleterious effect on their building’s façade. In fact, landscaping damaged in previous years by salt use will be rejuvenated by the use of like Mountain Organic Natural Icemelter, or GroundWorks Natural Icemelter. Other traditional icemelters, like rock salt and calcium chloride, cause damage outdoors, and also damage indoors as it’s tracked into buildings. Rock saltleaves behind a white reside and calcium leaves behind an oily one. Both, when tracked in, damage flooring. Mountain and GroundWorks do not track indoors because they leaves behind no residue.
As such, a number of school boards have spec’d Mountain / GroundWorks specifically. By using these products, they avoid the annual repairs to expensive gymnasium floors, entryways and carpeted classrooms.
· Reduce insurance premiums: Traditional icemelters fail users in a variety of ways, a few of the most immediately concerning are the following: Salt and Calcium icemelt products leave behind dusty and oily residues respectively. When tracked in, they present slippery situations.
Outdoors, other products don’t work consistently or stay working long enough so that safe walkways and parking lots can’t be guaranteed. XYNYTH customers enjoy a reduction in insurance premiums and fear fewer liability suits, because they choose a trustworthy, hardworking product (Mountain, GroundWorks or Arctic ECO Green) to ensure their customers (both walking and driving) are safe.
As you can see, exact savings are hard to quantify. For example, it’s hard to guess the following maintenance costs avoided as a result of (among other things): Outside temperature, Type of ground or flooring, Size of area being treated, Quality of flooring or landscaping.
What is clear, however, and easy to interpret is the increase in overall sales enjoyed by our distributors when they add XYNYTH’s eco-friendly products to their lineup.
Increased sales aren’t seen only on the environmentally-friendly product. By being a company that demonstrates an awareness of consumer expectations (that these days, a company will offer green
alternatives), company PR is improved. Existing customers are gratified and new customers are attracted.
And retailers know that getting a customer in the door is the hardest part: If possible, customers like to do all of their shopping in one place. Impress customers with your environmental stewardship and get them in the door by giving them reliable and affordable green options.
A distributor said this about adding XYNYTH’s environmentally-friendly product to their lineup: “When we first added Mountain, it did take some effort to switch our customers over. At first they only saw that it cost
more [than rock salt]. But once they saw the benefits and tried it out, they switched. Now they won’t buy anything else. [Not only that], they get other stuff from me because they prefer to get it in one place.”
The buyer at a major retail chain said this: “You pretty much have to offer something green these days or else the customers won’t think you’re listening to them, they’ll go elsewhere. By adding GroundWorks [XYNYTH’s Retail Environmentally-friendly product] we not only told the customer we cared about the environment, but we got new customers in. Sales went up in general [as a result].”
So it is clear: there are some serious Benefits to adding an environmentally-friendly icemelter like one of XYNYTH’s eco-friendly products to your line-up this year, and that these Benefits long out weight the costs.
Tell the world that your company cares about two very important issues: Our Environment, and Customer Satisfaction. XYNYTH’s eco-friendly products will satisfy on both those levels and more!
XYNYTH Manufacturing Corp. 