Marketing Sustainable Retail Development

Abstract

One of the primary benefits of sustainable retail over the long run has to be the marketing gain from having something other competitors do not: lower operating costs, a more socially responsible public profile, ease of gaining planning approval for new projects, better access to certain investment pools, higher rents (in the case of developers), ease of recruiting and retaining key people. Each of these benefits needs marketing and public relations support; each benefits from a clear and consistent corporate message that promotes sustainable retail.To date, there are very few retailers or developers who have championed sustainability long enough, consistently enough and with enough actual demonstration of changes in standard operations to gain the benefits of green marketing, but the very paucity of examples serves to underscore the point: the green marketing space is wide open for large retailers and developers.What would be the marketing steps that a company could take to benefit from its “sustainability focus?” The key to any marketing program is to differentiate a company’s actions from those of competitors and to do it along lines that its various stakeholders care about. This practice of differentiation is often expressed as “finding a difference that makes a difference, to someone who makes difference to you.”For retail developers, the first differentiator should be to attract more and better tenants to all of their centers, tenants who value lower operating costs and the developer’s program of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.

A Qualitative Approach to the Sustainable Orientation of Generation Z in Retail: The Case of Romania

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Sustainability Practices in Indian Retail Industry: A Comparison with Top Global Retailers

“…A wide variety of approaches were used by researchers while studying sustainability in retail, which include case study approach (Dos Santos, 2011), content analysis (Fulton & Eun Lee, 2013), and interviews and observations (Lehner, 2015). While most of the existing research focuses on sustainability practices of retailers in various sectors (viz., grocery, food, and garment) in both online and physical formats, considerable amount of research has been done on leveraging the sustainable practices for marketing and branding (e.g., Ilić, Stanković, & Ilić, 2013; Lehner & Halliday, 2014; Miller & Merrillees, 2013; Stuart, 2011). As articles explicitly researching sustainability issues in retail do not necessarily consider all sustainability dimensions, it is currently impossible to make general statements about sustainability issues in retail (Wiese et al, 2012).…”

The longevity of fashion retail stores: organization, brand and design

“…The aim of this paper is to define the fashion retail landscape in order to understand the potential for more sustainable interior retail designs and to analyse types of sustainability in fashion retail. It recognizes that a sustainable retail design approach will require an enduring balance between economic, environmental protection and equity concerns (Ilić and Stanković 2013). Moreover, drawing on the concept of a circular economy, a more informed approach is required to the use of resources obtained from the environment and how waste becomes a resource and is recycled within the process (Bonviu 2014).…”