“Every Business Leader Has an Obligation to Consider the Environment in all of our Actions" Grove CEO Talks Sustainability and Products Now Available In Target Stores

Alexis Christoforous and Kristin Myers chat with Grove Collaborative CEO Stuart Landesberg ahead of his products physical retail debut in Target stores nationwide.

Video transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: It is a big day for a company called Grove Collaborative. The eco-friendly cleaning product startup is making its first push into brick and mortar, inking a deal with Target to sell its products. Joining us now is Grove Collaborative's co-founder and CEO, Stuart Landesberg.

Stuart, welcome to the show. Why was Target the right partner for you guys at this moment?

STUART LANDESBERG: Thanks so much for having me. Grove's long-term vision has always been about taking consumer products, a category that, for a long time, has included harmful chemicals and environmentally destructive packaging, and making it a category that can be a positive force for human and environmental health in the way that our current climate and plastic crises demand.

Grove over the last 10 years has built a unique approach to product lines under our Grove Co. brand that limit or eliminate plastic use from common household applications. And as we look to take the footprint of our mission larger to expand the reach, Target was the perfect partner to us because of their history in bringing design forward, sustainability to the guest, and in allowing us to really do good customer education so that we can bring the guest along with us so that he or she or they understand that there is a way that-- there are products out there available to all of us that are a better customer experience, a lighter environmental footprint, at a really affordable cost.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: OK. So then how do you and Target work to convince shoppers to make the transition? And are your products less expensive than, you know, what's already on the market, because we've seen time and time again that we pay a premium for things like organic and, perhaps, for things like sustainable?

STUART LANDESBERG: So it all starts with customer education. And I think we are at a really interesting point in society when many of the environmental crises of our time go from-- are going from things that we have the option to ignore in our day-to-day to things that we're starting to pay attention to. And I think consumer awareness is super high for plastic waste, as an example. And 80% of US consumers believe that they should be playing a role in reducing plastic waste.

So I think we're seeing customer awareness. And we are partnering with Target both to educate consumers that each of us has the ability to make a change, number one, and then, number two, that there are new types of products, new formats out there, that are better for consumers and better for the environment.

A great example of that is our concentrated hard surface cleaners, where we sell a one-ounce cleaning concentrate where you might have, in the past, purchased a 16- or 24-ounce ready-to-use, mostly water glass cleaner, all-purpose cleaner, et cetera. And so that type of innovation requires a little bit more explanation to the consumer. But once you get a consumer in, you're delivering a higher quality product, in this case, at a lower cost to the consumer than the products that are on the market today in the ready-to-use format.

And so I think one of the really strong pieces of this partnership is it isn't just about sustainability. And it's not just about a flashy marketing message. They're products that genuinely work from an efficacy standpoint, from a fragrance standpoint, and that the customers won't be excited just to try, but that guests who try will want to come back for and build a really sustainable habit around for the long term.

KRISTIN MYERS: Stuart, whenever there's new regulation or policy that really forces companies to be more climate-conscious or to consider the environment, we often hear this pushback that these moves tend to be too costly or they impact and they negatively hurt the bottom line for companies. And you guys are turning that on its head. So if you were to speak to other CEOs, other executives at other companies, how would you make the case that taking this route, being environmentally friendly, being more sustainable, climate-conscious, is actually good for the company and for the bottom line?

STUART LANDESBERG: So I would say two things in specific. The first-- every business leader has an obligation to consider the environment in all of our actions. Businesses are, outside of the nuclear family, I believe, the single most important organizing force in civilization. And we are at a point where we need business to be a force for good. And that should be on the top of every business leader's agenda, along with everything in the P&L.

The second thing I'll say is that I believe an authentic commitment to an important mission is a sustainable competitive advantage. It starts with having access to the best talent. Any success we've had at Grove is because we've had an amazing group of people who are not just high performers, but are-- want to dedicate their professional lives to leaving the world better than they found it.

And the second piece is that I believe we're at this really interesting moment of consumer education where consumers can understand what a company stands for. And I believe that consumers will understand the urgency of the issues of the day and reward companies that take seriously matching our values with the values that are [AUDIO OUT].

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: I know you closed a $125 million funding round just a few months ago. And there's a lot of chatter that, you know, now that you have this deal with Target, you're readying the company to come to the public market. Can you talk to us about if you've had those discussions internally? And what are you going to use the money that you raised recently for?

STUART LANDESBERG: So we believe that there is a huge category out there ripe for transformation from the chemicals we used to believe were safe and packaging that's destructive to the environment to ones that better align with our value system today. And so the core use of funds is going to be to continue the customer obsession in our product development and in our reach to bring more customers to our sustainable mission for home and personal care.

We don't comment specifically on financing activities. But what I can say is that we've seen really strong growth over the last several years and believe the underlying trends of consumers paying more and more attention to the impact that each of our actions have will continue and will continue to be a tailwind for Grove and for all companies who prioritize mission as one of the core measures of success for the long term.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right. Stuart Landesberg-- he is CEO of Grove Collaborative-- thanks for being with us today.