After years of turbulence due to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and economic challenges, there is now a renewed focus on sustainability. The report covers strategies different retailers across the globe are implementing to meet sustainability goals, with circular economy and carbon neutrality being the most important trends. This brief includes five retailers’ sustainability strategies: Group Holding Ltd; Best Buy Co Inc; Patagonia Inc; Woolworths Group Ltd; and Almacenes Éxito SA.
This report comes in PPT.
Consumers play a critical role in driving the shift towards sustainability. They have the power to influence businesses and governments by making more sustainable choices in their daily lives. They expect businesses to implement sustainability strategies and be accountable.
The ongoing cost-of-living crisis has resulted in lower disposable incomes for many. As a result, there is increasing interest in second-hand products, as these typically cost less. Thanks to ongoing digitalisation, the growing availability and usage of resell platforms devoted to second-hand products is contributing to the further development of the circular economy.
For a retailer to ensure that its sustainability agenda is successfully achieved, it needs to be planned, coordinated, integrated and formalised, rather than carried out in an ad hoc, inconsistent and informal manner. Targets and measurement systems must be clear for both internal and external stakeholders.
Environmental sustainability remains top of mind for businesses in 2022, and with consumers, investors and governments increasing the pressure to disclose and minimise climate impacts, retailers and brands are embracing low-carbon strategies to reduce their emissions. However, coherent international sustainability legislation is lacking, which increases the complexity and opacity of the operational environment.
More retailers are expected to take on greater responsibility for promoting sustainability, with many adopting a more comprehensive approach by re-evaluating their entire operations. Embracing a systematic approach to sustainability will have a greater impact on the long-term success of companies rather than focusing solely on short-term achievements.
Retail is the sale of new and used goods to consumers from a business for personal or household consumption from retail outlets, kiosks, market stalls, vending, direct selling and e-commerce. Retail is the aggregation of Retail Offline and Retail E-Commerce. Excludes specialist retailers of motor vehicles, motorcycles, vehicle parts. Also excludes fuel sales, foodservice sales, rental transactions, and wholesale sales (e.g. Cash and Carry). Sales value excluding or including VAT/Sales Tax. Retail also excludes the informal retail sector. Informal retailing is retail trade which is not declared to the tax authorities. Informal retailing encompasses (a) sales generated by unregistered and unlicensed retailers, i.e. retailers operating illegally, and (b) any proportion of sales generated by a registered and licensed retailer that is not declared to the tax authorities. Unregistered and unlicensed retailers operate predominantly (although not exclusively) as street hawkers or operate open market stalls, as these channels are harder for the authorities to monitor than permanent outlets. Activities in the illegal market, which is usually understood to refer to trade in illegal, counterfeit or stolen merchandise, are included within our definition of informal retailing. Activities in the “grey market”, which is usually understood to refer to trade in legal merchandise that is sold through unauthorized channels – for example cigarettes bought legally in another country, legally imported, but sold at lower prices than in authorized channels – will be included as informal retailing if no tax is paid on sale by the retailer. However if the retailer pays tax – for example on cigarettes bought legally in another country but sold at a lower price than standard – the sale is included within formal retail.
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