Wal-Green

"Walmart can move quicker than probably any government on the planet," says Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation, in a Wall Street Journal piece by Ellen Byron (8/26/10). These are startling words from a guy who once said that "hell would freeze over" before he would do business with Walmart. Jeffrey’s company, which makes "environmentally-friendly household products" may indeed seem to be a strange bedfellow for Walmart, but all that’s changed now.

"What I realized is if you could get Walmart moving quicker and more aggressively in this direction, we’d be able to solve the challenges we’re facing much more quickly and much more efficiently," says Jeffrey. And so, beginning "next month, Seventh Generation staples, including laundry detergent, dish soap and all-purpose sprays, will be sold in about 1,500 Walmart stores. By September, other cleaners, diapers and baby wipes will be available on Walmart dot-com.

"We’ve shifted dramatically in the way we see the world," says Jeffrey. Part of that shift includes adjusting its prices to Walmart-friendly levels, "so that its products cost as much or only slightly more than the leading national brands." The move promises to help Seventh Generation tap into the great American mainstream while giving Walmart perhaps a bit more "green cred." Both companies sense great growth potential: "Sales of green household and laundry cleaning products rose to $557 million last year, having more than tripled since 2005," according to Packaged Facts.