Estée Lauder Co. Launches Responsible Store Design Program

The Estée Lauder Companies has rolled out its Responsible Store Design program, which the beauty giant says engages consumers in its retail sustainability journey. The program, according to ELC, provides a framework for the assessment of new and existing retail stores, and for the design of visual merchandising, across a variety of sustainability-related areas including waste reduction, water and energy conservation, and responsible material sourcing.

In fiscal 2020, ELC finalized its internal Green Building Standards for all of its spaces including retail locations. These standards serve as a road map to help new construction and major renovations incorporate sustainability principles into their design, setting a baseline for practices covering energy, water, waste and indoor air quality, the company said. The Responsible Store Design program, grounded in these standards, was developed with the assistance of a sustainability consulting firm with expertise in green building design and reviewed by a third-party to assure its credibility and accuracy, according to ELC.

“Sustainability has long been part of our corporate strategy and company culture, and our new Responsible Store Design program is a creative and impactful way to showcase ELC’s sustainability commitments to both our employees and our consumers,” said Al Iannuzzi, vice president, sustainability. “We're excited to launch our branded retail sustainability program and look forward to scaling this work beyond our pilot stores to impact retail operations globally in the future.”

Program Prerequisites 

To participate in the program, brands must meet all relevant program prerequisites, which vary based on the retail space and store type. For new stores, a scoring system is used based on points, where each individual location is evaluated based on various sustainability efforts across retail design and operations. For existing stores and visual merchandising, a checklist of pre-requisites is used to ensure each location meets our core sustainability requirements.

For both new stores and existing stores, these requirements include store build out, energy and water, responsible sourcing of materials, visual merchandising, store operations, and innovation.

To date, six stores have successfully aligned with the framework as part of the fiscal year 2023 pilot program. Among these is the Origins store in Nanjing Deji Plaza, which opened in July 2022. It met all prerequisites and achieved 26 points, according to ELC.

Climate action, waste reduction, water stewardship and the responsible sourcing of materials are all foundational to our approach to environmental sustainability at ELC and are key components of the Responsible Store Design program. Many of the pre-requisites for program directly correlate to emissions reductions, including reducing energy usage through LED lighting and Energy Star rated equipment, and sourcing low-emissions materials for store design and visual merchandising.

Other practices, like waste management and efficient plumbing fixtures, help to better connect these key tenants of ELC's internal Green Building Standards back to its retail spaces, the company said.

Visual Merchandising

Relevant visual merchandising must meet all prerequisites and at least one end-of-life requirement in order to participate in the program. This allows ELC's spaces like department store counters and displays in multi-channel retailers to be included in the Responsible Store Design program.

Here is a closer look at this portion of the program: 

Prerequisites for visual merchandising:
• Use energy-efficient technologies, like LED lighting and ENERGY STAR-rated equipment, to reduce energy use in visual merchandising
• Design visual merchandising that is free of virgin acrylic
• Ensure that other display elements are sourced in alignment with ELC’s Responsible Material standards, which include prioritizing the use of curbside recyclable materials wherever possible, incorporating post-consumer recycled materials, and using responsibly sourced fibers

End-of-life requirements for visual merchandising (must meet at least one):
• Implement a partnership to reclaim and recycle visual merchandising
• Design visual merchandising with no integrated lighting to reduce energy use and improve recyclability
• Design visual merchandising using only materials that are easily recycled in curbside systems
• Minimize visual merchandising packaging to reduce waste
• Design visual merchandising without the use of any acrylic to improve recyclability