The first RetailDNA Capital Value Chain 2024 report highlights that only 6% of retailers selling to Europe have a team focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability.
These are most often found from retailers selling to the UK, Sweden, and the Netherlands (all 11%). Fewer than 1% of those selling to Romania, Poland, Denmark, Czechia or Switzerland take this approach.
Furthermore, companies selling fashion direct-to-consumers online (14.7%) are more likely than others in the retail industry to be transparent about sustainability with consumers.
RetailX research also highlights that brands, retailers and marketplaces are including some form of sustainability information on their consumer-facing ecommerce sites, with the information shared ranging from full transparency to a link in the header or footer to the relevant section of a corporate site.
Careful consideration is given to how that sustainability journey is shared with consumers, and where. Some companies include sustainability messaging on the homepage of their ecommerce site, others include information on product pages to give details of individual products rather than, or as well as, corporate goals. For others, a link is given in the top navigation or the page footer. Corporate Social Responsibility or Sustainability links are often included in their website’s footer. Just 2% include CSR or sustainability in the top navigation menu.
It is even less common for retailers to provide customers with regular updates on their sustainability journey or to share a full sustainability report from the latest year or past activities.
It is far more commonplace for retailers to share sustainability reports with investors via a corporate site than it is for up-to-date information to be shared with potential customers. Of course, this information is open and available for customers if they want to look at the company’s investor relations site, and it is something that some customers investigate when researching companies before making purchases.
This feature harnesses research from both the RetailDNA Capital Value Chain 2024 report and the RetailX Sustainability 2024 report.
The RetailDNA Capital Value Chain 2024 report explores how retail businesses use the gains they made in the customer, product and operations value chains to reinvest in their businesses and expand their scale and reach. It explores how retailers grow their reach through store networks, and, digitally, through mobile apps and websites. This report explains how that happens, allowing companies to benchmark themselves against others.
Stay informed
Our editor carefully curates two newsletters a week filled with up-to-date news, analysis and research, click here to subscribe to the FREE newsletter sent straight to your inbox and why not follow us on LinkedIn to receive the latest updates on our research and analysis.
