No longer an abstract conversation meant to appeal to shifting consumer tastes, sustainability has become a top-of-mind priority for retailers in the past year.
With more than 60% of consumers across all generations saying they’re ready to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact, big-name retailers like Ikea, Levi’s, and Lush are taking significant steps to reduce water use, remove the need for packaging, and increase their use of renewable materials.
Today, more retail businesses expect their suppliers to adhere to modern-day sustainability standards. These expectations exceed the first-tier supplier, with companies aiming to promote sustainable practices in the entire supply chain. Some of the advantages of a sustainable supply chain include costs savings and improved productivity and efficiency.
Why the Sudden Change of Heart?
Because a typical retailer’s supply chain accounts for more than 80% of its CO2, and, at this very moment, it’s only the environment that’s suffering from the effects. Without sustainable practices in the retail industry, for example, a company’s profit has all the chances to be affected by things like climate-change-related disasters.
To adhere to the latest sustainability norms, companies must address economic, social, and environmental concerns across the entire supply chain. But in order to do that, they need to adopt socially responsible business practices that are good for the planet and its inhabitants. By reducing waste and collaborating with environmental conscious waste management services like Miltek, retailers see:
Better Supply Continuity: Many manufacturers are increasingly reliant on one or more suppliers in their chain. Diversifying their suppliers to account for an event like natural disasters helps bypas this over-reliance, preventing costly downtime and reputational damage.
Improved Reputation: It’s easier than ever for a customer to find which suppliers constitute a retailer’s supply chain. Today, sustainable consumers are highly interested in whether the brands they buy from, promote fair working conditions, decent wages, and environmental sustainability. Having a sustainable supply chain not only protects a brand reputation but also enhances business growth.
Partnership Potential: Retailers with an environmentally conscious supply chain can see improved efficiency and agility. It also makes room for experimenting with new, unprecedented types of collaborations across geographies and sectors.
Building a Sustainable Supply Chain Might Just Save the World
With 40% of all CO2 emissions coming from the supply chain sector, any transformation to the global supply chains would benefit the planet and future generations. If the world was perfect, this would be reason enough for brands to rethink legacy supply chain practices.
Unsustainable supply chains are also becoming incredibly expensive due to shortfalls that are intrinsic to their outdated business practices. Even so, planning inventory at the category level isn’t precise enough to overcome wastage, leading to metric tonnes of materials being destroyed every year.
If losing capital on easily solvable sustainable issues was not enough, retailers are struggling to hold on to market share as environmentally conscious consumers choose a value-driven shopping experience.
Making supply chains more efficient will not stop the financial bleeding, but it may benefit the environment.
Some Want to Invest in an Environmentally Responsible Manner
Despite the shifting sands of a global health crisis, the issue of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) has remained on the agenda of retailers who have a very important decision to make.
Are they going to change because they fundamentally believe in it or because they’re pressured into doing so by the government and their different stakeholders?
With the stick presented by social media-wielding consumers, investors, and Government, some companies have been forced to make adjustments. This goes back to things like the gender pay gap reporting and the move to reduce plastic carrier bag usage.
These movements have certainly brought pressure to bear on the likes of big-name retailers like Boohoo and its supply chain practices, which has led to a sizable overhaul of its business process.
Greenwashing is a Thing Now
When it comes to following decent sustainability behavior – some retailers are not what they preach.
Great care has to be taken because greenwashing – the practice by which brands falsely showcase an environmentally public image – is a thing now. But this is an undeniably debatable area. When large retailers like H&M circular products and trail sustainable cotton rangers, they always receive accusations of greenwashing from those who probably think fast fashion should not exist at all.
On the other hand, it could also be seen as encouraging as it highlights, they are at least doing something. It’s easy for us to watch and condemn from the other side. In truth, these legacy businesses cannot simply transform overnight.
As consumers, we must be able to recognize greenwashing and adjust our consumption habits accordingly. We can do that by identifying common terms like eco-friendly, sustainable, natural, green – used in marketing to appeal to the green-minded consumer.
The unfounded overuse of these terms has led to them becoming interchangeable and increasingly vague. The very term of sustainability has fallen victim to term dilution because of greenwashing.
Nowadays, we refer to sustainability when we discuss ending poverty, gender equality, and climate change. In the real sense, the term means taking only what you need and leaving systems capable of continued existence. Being sustainable doesn’t equate to reducing plastic.
Natural is another misleading term overused by ‘’ eco-conscious worries’’ and which has become totally meaningless. Some natural ingredients are also bad for us and our environment. Take arsenic or pesticides, it is natural, but you wouldn’t want it with your coffee.
Another sign for greenwashing is using natural imagery. Retailers can easily flood your email box with bunnies, blue skies, trees, and a farmer’s tractor. But who can complain? These are seductive images used to showcase an eco-friendly business, and they work.
