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CSR Research Digest – February 2012

Summary

The report on sustainability in retail was compiled on the basis of sustainability data from 30 retail members of the Retail Industry Leaders Association. The RILA retail member companies featured in report are Best Buy, Gap Inc., The Home Depot, IKEA, Petco, Safeway, Sears, Staples, Target, Walmart and Whole Foods Markets.

Key Findings

• Retailers are increasingly looking at sustainability as an opportunity to deliver superior value to the consumers and achieve a better image in the market as a responsible business.
• Achieving social and environmental goals is a significant challenge, often requiring expertise that the organization doesn’t have.
• That means that employees charged with sustainability-related tasks are going outside the organization and even the sector to learn about how to improve their organizations.
• The research indicated a noticeable uptick in stakeholder engagement.
• Long-gone are the days of focusing on the low hanging fruit like energy efficiency (which is being tackled store-by-store as a no brainer to save money on energy costs and reduce risk associated with the fluctuating energy market).
• Sustainability programs are increasingly seen as a source of innovation and a key way to differentiate in a competitive market.
• Sustainability isn’t over when the report is written.
• That has been the battle cry of sustainability consultants for years and not just because they want to keep their jobs.
• It’s great to see that retailers see the benefits of continuous iteration of sustainability projects.
• Retailers are now developing long range sustainability programs with short- mid- and long-range goals.
• Long-gone are the days of pushing compliance off as the responsibility of 3rd party suppliers.
• Retailers now recognize that engagement and transparency all the way down the supply chain mean heading off risks at the pass.
• Public watchdogs now expect retail brands to have full responsibility for the social and environmental policies at their factories and suppliers, and retailers are rushing to put policies in place to keep abreast of information.
• Additionally, financial reporting is no longer sufficient to tell the full story of the company’s health.
• Social and Environmental indicators are so closely tied to risk that sustainability reporting is a necessary part of the company’s story.
• The retailers reviewed in the report identified a plethora of opportunities provided by a sustainability outlook:
• reducing waste means financial savings: when business operations are viewed through the lens of sustainability, a whole host of environmental and financial efficiencies become visible like the reduction of energy, fuel, materials, waste, packaging, and other resources;
• actively mitigating risks: decreasing dependence on natural resources like fuel and materials, both internally and in the product supply chain, reduces exposure to price fluctuations and market volatility; ensuring proper labor standards, managing at-risk suppliers, and ensuring the safe manufacture and use of products mitigates brand risk;
• discover new innovations: sustainability can drive a new way of looking at problems and opportunities to save money and build brand value.

Author(s)

RILA

Source

PDF report

Tags: Best Buy, Gap Inc., IKEA, Petco, retail, Retail Industry Leaders Association, RILA, Safeway, Sears, Staples, sustainability, Target, The Home Depot, Walmart, Whole Foods Markets