Responsible retailing and the green consumer

Do retailers need to be considering more responsible retailing? Retail is renowned for creating a lot of waste that is less than eco-friendly. The rise of fast fashion generated more throwaway consumerism than ever, yet the trends in the industry are shifting and the rise of the green consumer has begun to shift the way retailers are thinking over the last few years.

The best solution for retailers to be greener is simply to produce less. Big data can be used in an intelligent way to produce only what customers will likely actually buy, producing less waste.

Is traditional business thinking outdated? If we stop seeing returns as a negative thing and use data in an intelligent way – retailers will purposefully create and sell less than they do today.

“Pile it high, sell it cheap” doesn’t work anymore. A business to customer consultative approach where effort is taken to understand the context of each customer’s requirements so products are both what a customer will buy and be more likely to use over a long time is an eco-friendlier approach.

Creating an inventory hub where items can be returned once they are no longer wanted is much more appropriate to the modern retail expectations.

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