Tips To Increase Foot Traffic And Sales For Your Sustainable Business

Julie Starr • August 11, 2022



Sustainability is a hot topic in the business world today. Consumers are more interested than ever in buying products and services from environmentally friendly and socially responsible companies. If you own a sustainable business, it is essential to take steps to increase foot traffic and sales. The following blog post will discuss some tips to help you achieve this goal!

#1 Make Sure Your Sustainable Business Is Visible To Consumers

If you want to increase foot traffic and sales for your sustainable business, it is essential to make your business visible to consumers. There are several ways to do this, such as advertising in environmentally friendly publications, participating in green trade shows, and using social media to promote your sustainable products and services.

Having a strong online presence for your sustainable business is also essential. Ensure that your website is optimized for search engines and that your online content is informative and engaging. Additionally, consider using pay-per-click advertising to attract more visitors to your website.

Finally, don’t forget the power of word-of-mouth marketing! Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on popular consumer review websites and to tell their friends and family about your sustainable business.

By taking steps to increase the visibility of your sustainable business, you’ll be well on your way to increasing foot traffic and sales.

#2 Make Your Sustainable Business Stand Out From The Crowd

To make your sustainable business stand out, you must ensure that it is visible and easily accessible to potential customers. One way to do this is to create an eye-catching storefront that will grab the attention of passersby. This can be done by using bright colors, interesting signage, and attractive displays. Another way to increase visibility is to locate your business in a high-traffic area near a popular retail store or public transportation stop.

In addition to increasing visibility, you must ensure that your sustainable business is easy to access. This means having a clear and concise website that provides potential customers with all the information they need about your products or services. It should also be easy for them to find your contact information and make a purchase. You risk losing potential customers if your sustainable business is not easily accessible.

To further advertise the business effectively, think about the marketing materials you have at conferences and events. From Table branded covers to inflatable tents, can all be useful in helping to attract people to the stand when competing with many other businesses at the same time. 

#3 Offer Incentives To Customers Who Shop At Your Sustainable Business

One great way to increase foot traffic and sales at your sustainable business is to offer incentives to customers. This could be in the form of a discount , freebie, or even just a simple thank you for shopping with you. Customers love feeling appreciated, which is a great way to show them that you value their business. Plus, it’s a great way to build brand loyalty among your customer base.

Another incentive you could offer is something called “cash back.” Cash back simply means that the customer gets a certain percentage of their purchase price back in the form of cash (or credit) when they shop with you. This is an excellent way to encourage people to shop with you again in the future, as they know they’ll be getting some of their money back.

Finally, you could also offer a loyalty program for your sustainable business. This is where customers can earn points for every purchase they make and then redeem those points for discounts or freebies down the line. Loyalty programs are great for keeping customers coming back, and they’re also a great way to build word-of-mouth marketing for your business.

#4 Get An ATM At Your Business

If you are a sustainable business, getting an ATM can help increase foot traffic. This will allow customers to have easier access to cash, which can be used to make purchases at your business. Additionally, when you own an atm it can help boost sales, as customers may be more likely to make impulse purchases when they have cash.

If you are interested in getting an ATM for your business, you should keep a few things in mind. First, ensure that the machine’s location is visible and easily accessible to customers. Second, ensure that the machine is well-lit and secure so that customers feel safe using it. Finally, be sure to promote the availability of the ATM so that customers are aware that it exists and know how to find it.

#5 Make Use Of Technology

In today’s world, technology is a powerful tool that can be used to increase foot traffic and sales. Use social media to connect with potential customers and promote your sustainable business. Use online tools such as Google Analytics to track your website traffic and see where your customers are coming from. Make sure to have a strong online presence so potential customers can easily find you.

Technology can also be used in-store to increase sales. For example, many sustainable businesses use tablet devices or iPads to showcase their products. Customers can browse through product information, photos, and videos on these devices, making it more likely for them to purchase. You can also use technology to run promotions or offer discounts that will entice customers to visit your store.

#6 Ensure Your Business Is Family-Friendly

If you want to increase foot traffic and sales at your sustainable business, it’s essential to make sure that your business is family-friendly. This means having a clean and safe environment, offering products or services that appeal to families, and providing amenities that families will appreciate. For example, you could have a kids’ play area in your store or offer baby-changing facilities for parents. You could also host special events or promotions that are geared towards families.

Making your sustainable business family-friendly is a great way to attract more customers and boost sales. Families are always looking for new places to shop, and if they feel welcome at your business, they’ll be more likely to come back again in the future.

In conclusion, there are many things you can do to increase foot traffic and sales at your sustainable business. By offering incentives, using technology, and making your business family-friendly, you’ll be able to attract more customers and boost your bottom line. So put these tips into action and watch your sustainable business thrive.

 

How Student-Led ‘Energy Audits’ Are Cutting School Costs (and Lighting the Way Forward)

By Julie Starr • July 14, 2025
What happens when students stop waiting for adults to fix things and start conducting their own energy audits? Money gets saved. The lights get switched off. Data gets analyzed. And a quiet revolution in sustainability begins—inside schools that once overlooked their own inefficiencies. Across the globe, student-led energy audits are proving that change doesn't always need to come from a policy shift or a major capital budget. Sometimes, it begins with a clipboard, a spreadsheet, and a group of curious minds asking: Why are the hallway lights on at noon when sunlight floods the building? The Energy Detectives These audits aren’t science fair projects. They’re rigorous investigations, often done in collaboration with facilities staff, local environmental nonprofits, or even engineering mentors. Students go from classroom to classroom measuring electricity usage, checking for phantom loads , and identifying where heat is escaping in winter or air conditioning is leaking in summer. One high school in Ontario saved over $12,000 a year after its Grade 11 physics students ran an energy audit and suggested simple changes—LED upgrades, motion sensors in bathrooms, and smarter heating schedules. They didn’t just propose ideas. They pitched them with spreadsheets, thermal images, and payback timelines. It worked. Learning That Pays Off—Literally Unlike textbook learning, these audits blend real-world math, environmental science, economics, and persuasive communication. Students aren’t just learning about sustainability. They’re doing it. And the savings add up. From dimming overlit hallways to reprogramming HVAC systems that run all weekend for empty buildings, students are surfacing blind spots that administrators often overlook. In some districts, their findings are influencing energy policy. Elsewhere, the audits have inspired school boards to hire sustainability coordinators—often alumni of the student programs themselves. There’s something poetic about a school funding new books or laptops from money saved by students who found out the vending machines didn’t need to be plugged in 24/7. Why This Matters More Than Ever With education budgets tightening and utility costs rising, every dollar saved is a dollar that can go back into classrooms. And here’s where it gets interesting from a family finance perspective, too. If you’re a parent setting aside money for post-secondary savings, every bit of school efficiency helps. Fewer energy costs might mean more programming, better STEM facilities, or even bursaries. That raises a broader point: when families save for their children’s future, they often look into RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans). And many wonder—is a RESP deduction available on my taxes? While contributions themselves aren’t deductible, the gains grow tax-free, and students often pay little to no tax when they withdraw the funds during school. A Movement Worth Replicating These audits aren’t just an exercise in environmentalism. They’re leadership labs. Students learn how to spot inefficiencies, speak up in board meetings, and make a business case for change. They don’t just flip switches—they shift mindsets. And they carry these habits into adulthood. The result? A generation growing up not only with climate anxiety, but also with tools to tackle it.

Smart Sensors, Smarter Supply Chains: Enhancing Traceability in Food & Beverage

By Julie Starr • June 20, 2025
In today’s competitive food and beverage (F&B) landscape, traceability is no longer a compliance checkbox—it’s a differentiator. The ability to track every step of a product’s journey, from origin to shelf, is vital for regulatory accuracy and to ensure brand integrity, supply chain agility, and consumer trust. Add smart sensors to the mix: the quiet, tireless observers revolutionizing supply chain intelligence. Traceability Has a Data Problem Despite digitization across many F&B operations, most traceability systems still rely on fragmented or manual data inputs. Batch numbers, barcodes, and handwritten logs often stand between a supplier and clarity when things go wrong. This approach struggles with latency and scale. When contamination or delays occur, root cause analysis is slow, costly, and damaging. Smart sensors shift this paradigm by embedding real-time, contextual intelligence into every stage of the supply chain . Whether monitoring humidity in transit or recording fill-level precision in bottling plants, they remove the guesswork by turning physical conditions into structured, time-stamped data. From Passive Monitoring to Active Optimization Sensors used to be reactive tools, alerting operators to anomalies. But smart sensors now play a proactive role in process control. They measure, and they interpret. For example, temperature sensors embedded in cold chain logistics can dynamically adjust cooling systems or flag threshold breaches before spoilage occurs. These advancements reduce waste and loss at a systemic level. In a production facility, smart sensors integrated with PLCs can enforce recipe compliance, verify clean-in-place processes, and detect micro-stoppages in real-time. This enables operations to pivot faster and isolate inefficiencies before they cascade downstream. Trust is Built on Transparency Consumers are paying more attention to what they eat and drink. They’re looking beyond labels, expecting visibility into how ingredients are sourced, processed, and handled. Smart sensors make this level of transparency achievable —without burdening manufacturers with excessive manual oversight. By capturing metadata throughout production and distribution, these sensors create a digital footprint that’s tamper-resistant and instantly accessible. When this data is integrated with a central platform, brands can respond confidently to audits, recalls, and quality assurance challenges with a level of precision that would be impossible through legacy systems. Intelligence Without Infrastructure Overhaul One common misconception is that adding smart sensors requires a top-down reinvention of supply chain infrastructure. In reality, companies can deploy edge sensors in a modular, scalable way. Many modern solutions offer plug-and-play functionality, allowing for fast integration with existing machinery and MES systems. This is where suppliers like alps-machine.com are reshaping expectations. Rather than pushing proprietary ecosystems, they design sensor-ready equipment with interoperability in mind. This future-proofs investment and keeps businesses nimble in the face of regulatory or market shifts. Designing for Data Longevity Sensors are only as powerful as the context they capture. A smart implementation ensures the data collected can be standardized, stored securely, and accessed meaningfully across departments. This means moving beyond local dashboards toward centralized, queryable datasets that inform everything from supplier contracts to marketing claims. As AI and predictive analytics become more accessible, these data-rich environments will unlock new capabilities—such as predicting demand spikes based on real-time freshness indicators or adjusting production schedules dynamically based on in-transit sensor feedback. Final Thoughts: Smarter Isn’t Optional Traceability isn’t solved by more paperwork—it’s solved by embedded intelligence. Smart sensors don’t just help businesses know what happened; they help prevent the wrong things from happening at all. For companies in the food and beverage sector, adopting smart sensors is less about chasing innovation and more about enabling resilience, speed, and confidence in every decision.