Chisato ShizumeAre you planning to go on a shopping spree this fall? The biggest shopping event of the year, Black Friday, is almost there. Many consumers expect to find great deals on Black Friday for home appliances, electronics, clothing, furniture, you name it. Needless to say, it’s a significant business opportunity for retailers. Stores offer huge savings, extend opening hours, and agitate consumers to buy more. But what does our rational mind say? Whatever happened to ending mass-production and mass-consumption for a sustainable society?
Yet, in recent years, there have been some changes in this frantic consumerism event. Some brands have announced to opt-out of Black Friday because it’s not sustainable neither for the environment nor the workers. For example, REI, a popular American outdoor retailer, closes all of its retail locations on Black Friday and encourages its employees to do what they love, to spend time with family and friends.
Such movement makes us stop and think about what or who the bizarre shopping event is for. Are we spending time and money on useless things to satisfy our materialistic desires? Maybe. However, one thing for sure is that most modern-day humans cannot live without consuming various things every day. So, if we are to seek sustainable consumption realistically, it’s not about giving up all the fun of shopping or about blaming yourself that materialism is a sin. It’s going to be about finding ways to achieve sustainable production and consumption, and about seeking the right balance.
IKEA’s #BuybackFriday for a circular economy
Swedish home furnishing brand IKEA, and its parent company Ingka Holding B.V. are enthusiastic to turn their business ‘climate positive’ by 2030. Being climate positive means the company will reduce more greenhouse gas emission than its value chain emits.
IKEA also plans to use renewable and recycled material for their products to enable circular economy. Circular economy is an ideal model of sustainable production and consumption. Restorative and regenerative by design, circular economy aims to minimize waste generation and circulate resources and materials in the economy for as long as they can. And IKEA seeks to realize this in its business model too, and giving its furniture a second life is part of it.
For this year’s Black Friday, IKEA offers a deal that encourages consumers to recycle furniture instead of prompting their impulse buying. The company will launch #BuybackFriday, a campaign where IKEA buys back used furniture from customers and resell or recycle them. This campaign is part of IKEA’s actions to promote sustainable consumption by providing a service to circulate goods in the economy. The company expects to buy back several thousand unneeded furniture worldwide during this campaign.z
Hosting a garage sale, yard sale, or selling used furniture on Craigslist is common in countries like the U.S., but they hadn’t been so familiar to the Japanese people. IKEA’s challenge could introduce and spread new values about selling and buying used furniture, eventually establishing other frameworks to circulate goods in the society.
It will also help consumers to find their right balance of sustainable consumption. Buying or recycling used furniture will be a new sustainable choice consumers can make in the future. #BuybackFriday will be held in 27 countries across the world, and in Japan, it is planned to take place from November 26 to December 6.
[Reference] IKEA Newsroom (in Japanese)
