Sustainable shopping: How tech can facilitate conscious consumerism
Covid has accelerated the consumer demand for sustainable shopping choices.
A recent survey by Wrap, a not-for-profit supporting sustainable practices, found that 91% of people who acquired second hand or vintage items over the summer will ‘definitely’ or ‘likely’ continue in the future. Consumer attitudes towards clothing and the environment are changing and sustainable shopping behaviours are sticking.
Cybertill builds cloud-based retail EPoS and ERP software and has been enabling sustainable shopping with technology for nearly a decade. We serve both non-food retail and the charity retail market which seems to now be coming full circle as retailers want to try services including second hand, item donation, clothing recycling, product buy back or consignment, Gift Aid, charitable donations, marketplaces, and more. We’ve helped charity retailers handle the complexities of all of these sustainable retailing practices and advise retailers interested in this model to look to the charity market for guidance.
Need to offer clothing recycling? Partner with a charity and utilise their existing RAG channels. Want to sell second hand and support a charity? Partner with a charity retailer and offer some floorspace to a second-hand concept ‘shop in shop’. Need to increase donations to your chosen charity? Why not offer a ‘round up’ option for customers to give a small donation on the total of their purchase?
We partnered with Retail Gazette to survey retail technology leaders about their sustainable priorities over the next 12-months and produced a report which details investment in schemes such as product buy back, second hand selling, product rental, charitable donations, e-receipts, ethical product lines, sustainable packaging, reducing stock wastage, and much more. I hope you find inspiration within this report. Personally, I’m heartened by the results of this survey because it shows that retailers are still innovating, and pivoting business models to stay relevant to today’s consumer.
Ian, thanks for sharing!
Passionate Director of Sales at the Fairfield by Marriott Rome Tennis Center at Berry College- Strategic Outreach Developer | Event Planner
4 年Well said Ian.
Yes, great piece Ian. Sustainable shopping is the (only) future!
Simplifying and overcoming print challenges with a process of consultation, collaboration and determined application. Keeping it Simple.
4 年Great piece Ian, Cybertill leading the line as usual. ??