Once you’ve found sustainable products to carry in your store – with the help from our previous post on Identifying Sustainable Products – how do you then communicate that sustainability to your customers? Understanding the materials, production methods, and labels of your products will help you explain to your customers how their purchase makes a difference.

One of the most effective ways to talk about products is through their stories. Whether a narrative about who made the product or an interesting story behind the materials used, these anecdotes will stand out both in your mind as well as your customers'. They give an added value to the product, and help remind people that their purchase is unique and meaningful.

This leads to another point about uniqueness – know and use key words to describe what you are trying to sell and what makes it stand out. This ranges from Fair Trade, Handmade, Recycled, and Sweatshop-Free, and includes both social and environmental factors. Most sustainably-minded companies include such terms in their branding, so always use the merchandising and marketing materials they provide you to communicate both stories and values.

To take this one step further, aside from just being able to list which of your products are Fair Trade, learn what Fair Trade really stands for. Be able to communicate the values and principles of Fair Trade: empowering producers, community development, and environmental conservation. Avoid using negative or opposing descriptors; rather, convey the positive effects of Fair Trade and other sustainable practices.

And finally, remember that it's important to also connect with customers away from the store. Use of social media can be an effective platform to raise awareness about sustainability and create a dialogue with and between your customers. This also allows you to link with other like-minded businesses and find out what strategies work for them. Fair Trade, in particular, is an inclusive movement, and partnerships and communication between businesses and individuals are strongly encouraged.