Corporate responsibility and retailing

Over recent years the need to be aware of issues to do with climate change, environmental impact and sustainability has climbed up the public and business agendas. Corporate responsibility as a topic has exploded.

This has special relevance for retailers and wholesalers. They deal with manufacturers and suppliers and receive products and services from them. Yet they also have to meet the needs of consumers and thus have an impact on their attitudes and behaviours. All of which means they have to contend with, but can also influence, a larger variety of activities than many other businesses.

For example, within their own businesses corporate responsibility issues retailers and wholesalers can respond to include:
• the environmental impacts of premises
• transport links
• how offices are built and operated
• reducing waste and energy consumption
• improving efficiency.

However, retailers’ and wholesalers’ responsibility cannot be limited to their own activities. They can also exert a positive influence on suppliers and manufacturers in for example:
• transport modes
• efficiency
• packaging
• product traceability and sustainability
• food miles
• localness of products.

Partnerships, often on a local level with smaller firms, could be a useful way to improve performance in this regard.

Meanwhile consumers have become more concerned about environmental issues, and their expectations of business have increased. Wholesalers therefore have to respond and help their retailers to take informed action. But increasingly consumers also want retailers to supply them with useful information and to help them do the right things in their choices and lives.

As retailers and wholesalers change their own behaviours and encourage their partners in the value chain and their consumers to do the same, improvements have been seen - in waste recovery, recycling levels, reduction in energy use and a focus on efficiency in operations amongst other things. Product purchase behaviour has begun to alter. Such activities and opportunities will only intensify.

What might be the main issues/approaches in the future? These could include:
• a sharper focus on sustainability including resource reduction and re-use
• a fuller consideration of the impacts of all activities in a business, and not just those that are in the direct control of the organisation
• a much greater concern for locality, place and localness
• better supply of information, not only to improve business efficiency but to respond to consumers and other stakeholders who are increasingly going to demand that they understand what retailers are doing in the area of corporate responsibility.

Retailers and wholesalers, like other businesses and consumers themselves, face challenging times. The evidence of these challenges is everywhere and includes global warming, rising energy prices, food scarcity and access to resources. Scarcity and cost increases will drive efficiency and reduce consumption, though in the short term there is a delicate balancing act to achieve in terms of consumer prices. The best businesses will see that doing the right thing is good for themselves, their consumers and the planet as a whole.

Leigh Sparks
Professor of Retail Studies, Institute for Retail Studies,
University of Stirling, Scotland