Environment and Sustainability in the Retail Industry

Essay

The Environment and Sustainability

Introduction

The retail industry is related to activities of sale of goods and services. There are convenience stores and markets in the economy (TRAN and LE, 2020). The retail industry generated higher revenue for the economy of the country and it is increasing the global revenue at a large. There are activities like transportation and packaging that lead to pollution creation. Certain ethical rules are followed in the retail industry and some of them do not follow them. The following assignment will deal with the issues that are related to the environment and sustainability that are affected by the activities that are carried out by the retail industry. Writing about the environment and sustainability is the topic of concern and this needs to be followed by the world retail companies. The topic is related to the conservation of the future of the coming generation and the benefits for them that are necessary to practice.

The following assignment will deal with the environment and sustainability theme that is applied to the retrial industry. The assignment will cover the theories that are linked with sustainability. The assignment will deal with the advantages and disadvantages of sustainability and environmental practice in the retail industry.

The social and cultural context of environmental sustainability

People’s change in preferences and wants

The environment and sustainability are the issues that are of concern to the people. There have been many climate changes in the world that are affecting the retail industry as well. The adaptations in various sectors are taking place (Mohammed and Al-Amin, 2018). These adaptations are related to agriculture and technological advances are seen. These issues affect the quality of the products and the price of the products. With the changes in the climate, there is a requirement of the changes in the retail buildings, logistics. The consumers in the country are changing the demands of the preferences and wants. The United Kingdom is facing various climatic conditions and it is required to make certain changes in the rules related to the environment and sustainability (Rosenbloom et al., 2020). The consumers in the world are of the thoughts that they want to reduce the harm that is caused to the environment. Consumers are concerned about the future generation. There is an impact on the products that are used and people are looking forward to reducing the carbon particles in the world. It could be found out that around 81% of the consumers are switching to using eco-friendly products. There are 50% of the consumers that are ready for reused and recycled products. 83% of consumers are of the thought that people are thinking that the companies are responsible for using a more sustainable approach towards the making of the products. It could be stated that the above-mentioned information is stated as the shifts in the public opinions. There are 74% of the consumers are ready to reduce the environmental impact that is caused on society as a whole (brc.org.uk, 2022).

Figure 01: Sustainable shopping behaviors amongst shoppers based in the UK in the year 2021.

Source: statista.com, 2022

Ethical debate

It was studied in the post-pandemic world has caused the use of the sustainability is important in the conservation of the environment. There is an ethical debate by the united nations that talk about the planet, prosperity, and peace. The planet is related to the sustainable use of natural resources and managing them easily.

Theories and strategies for greater sustainability

The retail industry is required to follow the theory of composting. The retail industry could use the remains of polyester and synthetic (Niinimäki et al., 2020). This could help in the generation of the products that are used by the consumers. The composting could be done by the use of the veggies that are used and stored in the marketplace. The products could be made with the help of online platforms. Composting could be used by the retailers and thus based on that the vegetables could be produced for a good and sustainable as well as healthy diet could be followed. The retail shops could market in such a way that the plants that are produced are based on a sustainable approach. With this, the waste management theory could be used by the industry. The industry could recycle the products that are made of plastic and this way the products could be reused by the consumers. It was stated above that the consumers are ready to use the recycled products. This demand could be filled with the appropriate supply of the products. Recycling could also ensure the quality of the products that will be long-lasting. This will stop the case of Greenwashing. Various activities could be followed by the companies to reduce the waste that is produced. This will have the benefits such as the low use of the water will be done, the energy that will be required will be less, all the Rs for the waste generation will be followed also there will be no soil erosion with the proper implication of the waste management by the retail industry. The advantages will be that the carbon footprint will be reduced and the society will lead towards a better future (Zheng and Suh, 2019). With the advantage, there are disadvantages to the company. The cons of this could be calculated as a requirement for more funding for the projects. The consumers will also be required to pay more for the use of the products and services. The disadvantages that are researched upon are not that concerning. The products and services that are recycled are of high quality and could be demanded higher money as they will reap the benefits in no time. Also to engage the consumers what could be done by the retail industry is that, consumers could be asked for bringing back the used products and thus could be discounted on the purchase of the other product. This approach could help in moving towards a better sustainable society and environment conservative society.

Role of visual culture towards Sustainability

It could be noted that the changes in the climate are occurring at a higher pace as was expected and the activities that are being performed are at a slower pace thus, the gap that is remained between the two is required to be filled. This calls for a greater need and influence of the visual culture that will thoroughly and undoubtedly impact both the producer and viewer towards the environment and means of sustainability.

How can products be targeted and advertised?

The retail industry requires focusing on the Natural resources use in the production and providence of products, Greenhouse management in the industry, waste management of the wastes that are produced in company, the company is required to supply chain management in the industry and the chemicals are used in the industry (Wang et al., 2021). The companies that are into retail marketing are required to market the products in the company in that form.

The consumers in the market are concerned about sustainable products. For the sale of the products, it is required to be marketed in that way. Consumers are the ones who use eco-friendly products; it has become the trend in the company for the use of eco-friendly products. The marketing strategies that are used by the retail companies are on social media.

Relationship between Producer and Viewer in the context of environment and sustainability.

The advertising of the products and services talks about the sustainable approach that is used by the company in the production of the products and services (Quaye and Mensah, 2019). Both the producer and the viewer have a psychological influence on one another, with concern to any specific target issue that can be taken with the context of social or cultural aspect (Voramontri and Klieb, 2019). Concerning the sustainability and promotion of sustainable behaviors within the culture, the producer is infected by having targeted only those behavior of customers that demonstrate their core preferences and needs concerning their daily lifestyle. The product in turn can manage to target those products that demonstrate greater sustainability and eco-friendliness associated behaviors that further encourage and motivates the customers to adopt and replicate the same (Hansen et al., 2018). The producers may use the means of several images and visual pieces of information that target the emotional aspect and lifestyle amongst the local population. Furthermore, the use of media and visual information engages with the customer’s decision-making process and means of selective attention, which encourages them to only focus on information and replicate the behavior that seems to be the most appealing. This allows for an observed change in the customer’s purchase behavior and overall changes in the lifestyle of the local population around (Cooley and Parks, 2019).

Conclusion

The above assignment has helped in understanding the sustainable approach that could be used by the retail industry. The above assignment has helped in understanding the greenwash concept and composting theory that could be implemented by the retail industry. The above assignment has helped in understanding the impact of sustainability on society with the retail industry. It was understood that the consumers in the market are ready to pay for the sustainable approach lifestyle. It is of great demand that the consumers are the ones who are demanding the environmental approach and sustainable use of the available products. The natural resources are in limited form and hence their use could be controlled by international organizations like the UN. Resource allocation is one of the best solutions that could be used. In the retail industry, the use of plastic is seen on the large at the same to recycle the plastic and asking the industry to use the same in the production could be implemented. The recycled clothes could be also used by consumers for a more sustainable approach. It could be stated that the environmental approach and sustainability concern is required to initiate from the big industries.

References

brc.org.uk, 2022 [Online] Available at brc.org.uk/climate-roadmap/section-1-context/15-the-uk-retail-industry-and-climate-change/ [Accessed on 26^th February 2022].

Cooley, D. and Parks-Yancy, R., 2019. The effect of social media on perceived information credibility and decision making. Journal of Internet Commerce, 18(3), pp.249-269.

Hansen, J.M., Saridakis, G. and Benson, V., 2018. Risk, trust, and the interaction of perceived ease of use and behavioral control in predicting consumers’ use of social media for transactions. Computers in human behavior, 80, pp.197-206.

Mohammed, T. and Al-Amin, A.Q., 2018. Climate change and water resources in Algeria: vulnerability, impact and adaptation strategy. Economic and Environmental Studies (E&ES), 18(1), pp.411-429.

Niinimäki, K., Peters, G., Dahlbo, H., Perry, P., Rissanen, T. and Gwilt, A., 2020. The environmental price of fast fashion. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1(4), pp.189-200.

Quaye, D. and Mensah, I., 2019. Marketing innovation and sustainable competitive advantage of manufacturing SMEs in Ghana. Management Decision.

Rosenbloom, D., Markard, J., Geels, F.W. and Fuenfschilling, L., 2020. Opinion: Why carbon pricing is not sufficient to mitigate climate change—and how “sustainability transition policy” can help. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(16), pp.8664-8668.

statista.com 2022[online] Access through https://www.statista.com/statistics/1056522/sustainable-shopping-behavior-of-uk-shoppers/[Accessed on 19 March 2022]

TRAN, V.D. and LE, N.M.T., 2020. Impact of service quality and perceived value on customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions: Evidence from convenience stores in Vietnam. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics, and Business, 7(9), pp.517-526.

Voramontri, D. and Klieb, L., 2019. Impact of social media on consumer behavior. International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences, 11(3), pp.209-233.

Wang, F., Harindintwali, J.D., Yuan, Z., Wang, M., Wang, F., Li, S., Yin, Z., Huang, L., Fu, Y., Li, L. and Chang, S.X., 2021. Technologies and perspectives for achieving carbon neutrality. The Innovation, 2(4), p.100180.

Zheng, J. and Suh, S., 2019. Strategies to reduce the global carbon footprint of plastics. Nature Climate Change, 9(5), pp.374-378.