The globally-inspired retail company turned new regulation into a company-wide climate foundation, building its first footprint in under six months
World Market turned a new climate disclosure law into an opportunity to establish its first company-wide greenhouse gas emissions measurement process and identify opportunities for cost savings. With no prior emissions experience, their sourcing team used Watershed to build a footprint from scratch in under six months. Now, the Watershed platform provides new visibility for key emission drivers across the company and an opportunity to further explore business initiatives tied to sustainability.
CHALLENGE
When California’s SB 253 mandated emissions reporting, World Market saw more than a compliance hurdle—it recognized the need to quickly establish its first emissions tracking process. The company’s sourcing leader stepped up to build a sustainability team from the ground up, navigating uncharted territory with limited bandwidth and no in-house expertise.
SOLUTION
World Market chose Watershed to guide their first footprint, drawn to its hands-on support and easy-to-use software. Through tutorials, advisor sessions, and a responsive team, they went from zero data to an audit-ready footprint in just a few months—creating a foundation for future progress.
RESULTS
First-ever footprint in five months: World Market completed a full carbon footprint from scratch in just five months.
Compliance unlocked business value: What began as a legal requirement sparked productive internal conversations.
Leadership momentum gained: Clear data visuals and tailored insights that provided visibility to executive-level leadership.
CHALLENGE
World Market is known for its eclectic, globally inspired assortment. Its ever-evolving product mix offers customers a boutique, treasure-hunt experience—but also creates complexity behind the scenes. With new products constantly flowing in, formal GHG emissions tracking had not yet been established for the California-headquartered retailer. That changed with California’s SB 253.
The new regulation requires select companies doing business in California to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. For World Market, this made carbon reporting non-optional, and it was a chance to take a fresh look at the efficiency and impact of key elements of its business operations.
“Even though it’s regulatory, it’s a direction we wanted to go in as a company,” says Cyndi Tragoutsis, a sourcing leader who’s been with World Market for 17 years. “We wanted to learn as much as we could going forward.”
When the law passed, Tragoutsis raised her hand to lead the charge. With no in-house emissions expertise and limited bandwidth, she knew they’d need outside support.
“We didn’t have the capacity to start manually, as many companies do. We needed a partner to meet us where we were—and guide us from the very beginning.”
Cyndi Tragoutsis,
Director of Strategic Sourcing
SOLUTION
To meet the requirements of SB 253, World Market needed to move quickly. They began building their new sustainability team, first with recruiting Neida Aldana-Felix, the company’s Environmental Data Specialist who leads data emissions coordination, emissions data reporting, and cross-functional data collection to support regulatory requirements.
Next, the team began looking for a partner that could guide them through their first carbon footprint—and set them up for long-term success. “As newcomers, we needed a partner that could help us ramp fast and build a foundation for the future,” explains Tragoutsis.
They chose Watershed for its combination of expert guidance and intuitive software. With advisor sessions, learning tutorials, and structured tools, Tragoutsis and Aldana-Felix could hit the ground running. “We were able to establish a strong starting point with many of the learning tutorials that Watershed offers,” Tragoutsis says.
The platform made it easy for the team to stay organized, while responsive support filled in knowledge gaps as they emerged: “The software is user-friendly, and when we didn’t know what to do, we could reach out to the team, who were responsive and tailored their support to our business needs.”
World Market began gathering data in April and completed its first full carbon footprint by September—a swift timeline for a first-time team.
“We built our first footprint from the ground up in under six months, laying the groundwork for long-term impact.”
Cyndi Tragoutsis,
Director of Strategic Sourcing
RESULTS
During the footprint readout, one thing became clear: this wasn’t just a compliance exercise. The emissions data had surfaced valuable insights and potential operational opportunities.
“The emissions data gives us greater insight into our operational efficiencies and potential opportunities for cost savings,” Tragoutsis says.
Watershed helped World Market’s lean sustainability team in organizing and visualizing emissions data for its first presentation to company leadership. Visual breakdowns made the data accessible and supported executive-level understanding of the company’s greenhouse gas footprint.
What began as a legal obligation quickly evolved into a clearer internal understanding of top emissions drivers across the business.
World Market is turning a compliance need into an opportunity to broaden the company’s understanding of how emissions data can open key insights into the efficiency of business operations. They’re already taking steps to measure quarterly moving forward, improve data quality over time (e.g., moving from spend- to activity-based data), and use emissions data to inform potential cost savings in the future.