Consumer and Retail in the News – Issue 311

TW Viewpoint:

Sustainability is (even bigger) business

It's hard to truly pinpoint how and when it hit the mainstream, whether deforestation Christmas adverts or the "Planet Earth" effect, but every business now has a sustainable story to tell. No longer part of the CSR back-office policy statement, sustainability is increasingly the front and centre marketing campaign for many businesses. It's no accident that so many of this week's retail press articles below focus on sustainability themes. But there is also a new and growing ecosystem of businesses which are founded principally on supporting sustainability, and just this week our Retail Reimagined 2019 event heard from a series of fashion sustainability-rooted start ups as part of Farfetch's Dream Assembly cohort. The effect is that the market is now crowded on social conscience, and whether you're a business with a sustainable message or a business built on sustainability, a strong authentic message is required to shout through the noise.