Retailing for Profit and Purpose
Leading With Responsibility And Empathy To Drive Growth And Build Loyalty
Consumers are increasingly aligning their progressive values with their purchasing decisions, driving companies to rethink their operations and retail and marketing efforts. Top of mind for shoppers are how organizations are driving meaningful change through sustainability initiatives and DEI efforts.?It’s now critical that businesses think beyond messaging about social impact as their customers are ready to hold them accountable for lack of follow through, or by running campaigns that lack authenticity and transparency.
Across the commerce landscape, businesses are reexamining their end-to-end offering from sourcing and product design to internal representation and logistics to embed measurable social impact at every stage. Companies are also developing new business models and platforms to empower customers and partners to get involved and drive collective action. Beyond creating positive change, these initiatives must now be viewed as a true differentiator in an increasingly competitive marketplace. When effectively implemented, these efforts can enable operational efficiencies and open the door to new revenue streams, creating value for consumers, companies and their workforce, and the planet.
In this report , discover how leading retailers and brands are innovating through better processes and practices. Learn how intrinsic motivation to prioritize social, cultural, and environmental responsibility, enables businesses to not only navigate shifting consumer expectations and marketplace change, but lead the way with responsibility and empathy, and understand how profit and purpose can be intertwined to drive growth.?
Featured Trends
Open Price Transparency
Given the current state of the economy from supply chain disruptions to rising inflation, consumers, businesses and their workforces are facing increased living and operational costs. As a result, many companies are feeling the need to raise the prices of their products and services to compensate. Rather than simply pass along the increases to consumers without explanation, many organizations are using this moment as an opportunity to be transparent and upfront with their customers by discussing the rationale behind their decisions and providing insight into their day-to-day businesses. In some cases, these price hikes will directly be used to raise the wage of employees who are essential for delivering quality products and experiences.
Shared Responsibility
Consumers are uniting under the banner of purpose (from climate conversations to workers’ rights) and are expecting the companies they buy from and the platforms they use to play an active role in promoting positive change. Recognizing that collective efforts can have the largest net positive impacts, organizations are spearheading shared ownership and ongoing donation models that make it easy for customers and clients to provide incremental financial support to fund significant actions.
Zero-Impact Shipping
Continued growth in eCommerce and increased consumer expectations around delivery speed have made fulfillment a major focus for retailers hoping to strike the right balance between convenience and cost. Combined with the environmental impacts of packaging waste and transportation, shipping and logistics are poised to become a major battleground for differentiating customer experience. To lead on the sustainability front, many organizations and third-party providers are striving to create zero impact delivery operations with carbon offsetting options and alternative modes of transport.
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Featured Examples
Ecologi Offsets Helps Businesses And Individuals Take On The Climate Crisis
The environmental subscription service creates custom carbon offset plans tailored to both enterprise and family sustainability needs and impact goals, and wants to mitigate 50% of global CO2 emissions by 2040. Read More
Walmart Canada Goes Carbon-Neutral For Last Mile Delivery
By partnering with EcoCart, Walmart becomes the first major Canadian retailer to offer carbon-neutral last-mile delivery for its customers’ ecommerce orders, including online grocery delivery. Read More
Innovative Payment Providers Are Incentivizing Green Spending
Visa, Mastercard, and other financial platforms are rewarding their users’ climate-smart spending and shopping by integrating tools from companies like Future and Doconomy into their payment offerings to better educate and inspire consumers around sustainability.?Read More