A retail operating model for pre-production demand validation, portfolio filtering, and avoided-emissions accounting.
Executive Summary
Impact Commerce is a retail operating model that integrates pre-scale demand validation, production portfolio filtering, and quantified avoided-emissions accounting into bulk manufacturing workflows. Read the Methodology →
It replaces speculative scaling with evidence-based allocation.
Rather than managing excess inventory after production, Impact Commerce prevents statistically predictable overproduction before it occurs.
This model enables brands to:
Cancel low-performing SKUs prior to manufacturing
Reallocate production budgets toward validated demand
Quantify avoided residual inventory
Attribute carbon avoidance transparently
Align profitability with decarbonization objectives
Impact Commerce is not on-demand production.
It is disciplined scale.
For (Who it’s for)
Requirements (Inputs)
Use when (Trigger conditions)
Outputs (What you get)
Modern retail is built on forecasted scale. Forecasts generate overproduction. Overproduction generates residual inventory. Residual inventory generates embodied carbon and financial loss.
In apparel and footwear, overproduction remains systemic. Even where destruction is prohibited, excess inventory still represents:
Locked capital
Scope 3 emissions exposure
Supply chain inefficiency
Regulatory risk
Brand dilution
Circular diversion strategies address downstream waste. Impact Commerce addresses upstream decision failure.
Impact Commerce is a two-phase production intelligence system:
Phase 1 — Test & Learn: Demand Signal Extraction
Controlled pre-launch exposure of new SKUs
Aggregated demand validation
Performance benchmarking across portfolio
Early identification of statistically weak performers
Transparent consumer participation
The objective is not fulfillment.
The objective is signal clarity.
Cancellation of low-performing SKUs prior to production
Precision reallocation of manufacturing budgets and volumes
Bulk production of validated SKUs
Preservation of scale efficiencies
Structural reduction of residual inventory risk
Impact Commerce filters portfolios before scale commitment.
Impact Commerce quantifies emissions avoided through production that does not occur.
Avoided emissions are calculated based on:
Defined counterfactual baseline (industry benchmark and/or brand historical residual rate)
SKU portfolio performance during Test & Learn
Volume reduction attributable to filtering decisions
Product-level embodied carbon estimates
Avoided emissions are:
Generated upstream
Linked to post-campaign production decisions
Allocated proportionally
Recorded immutably
Attributed to participating consumers (opt-in)
Owned and reportable by the brand
This is not offsetting. This is prevented embodied carbon.
Impact Shopping™ is the consumer expression of Impact Commerce.
Consumers are informed that:
Their participation influences which SKUs scale
Weak signals result in cancellation
Validated signals result in production
Portfolio filtering prevents overproduction
Estimated avoided emissions are visible prior to purchase
Impact attribution is triggered after production decisions are finalized.
Each consumer’s participation contributes to:
Portfolio precision
Waste prevention
Quantified carbon avoidance
Impact Shopping™ transforms demand from a passive signal into an active filter.
Impact Commerce supports:
EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)
By structurally reducing unsold inventory risk before production.
Destruction Ban Compliance
By preventing excess inventory rather than managing disposal.
CSRD Transition Planning
By embedding waste prevention into operating models.
Climate Mitigation Objectives
By reducing embodied carbon exposure in manufactured goods.
Impact Commerce functions as an enabling mechanism for decarbonization within consumer supply chains. Environmental impact context →
Impact Commerce is not:
On-demand manufacturing
Carbon offsetting
Post-production resale infrastructure
Destruction mitigation
Marketing-based sustainability claims
It is:
Pre-scale portfolio intelligence embedded into commerce.
Impact Commerce improves:
Gross margin stability
Working capital efficiency
Supply chain predictability
Production allocation precision
Carbon intensity per sell-through unit
It aligns:
Cost discipline with carbon discipline.
Impact Commerce is a retail operating model that integrates pre-production demand validation, evidence-based portfolio filtering, and quantified avoided-emissions accounting into bulk manufacturing workflows, enabling brands to eliminate statistically predictable overproduction before it occurs.
Sangrove defines and operationalizes this category.
Impact Shopping™ is the consumer participation layer within Impact Commerce.
Regulation is moving upstream.
Capital is scrutinizing Scope 3 exposure.
Consumers expect measurable participation.
Brands require margin protection.
The industry must shift from managing excess to preventing excess.
Impact Commerce provides the operating system for that shift.
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