The FMCG and retail sectors need to revive consumer interest in sustainability with shoppers concerned about the economy, Marks and Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland said today (15 March).
The Dutchman said the economic conditions of the last four years had seen interest in sustainability from consumers and the media wane and he insisted it was up to business to make the issue more relevant to the public.
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Tackling the impact of the FMCG sector on the environment, Bolland said, was “more important than ever” with the middle classes in emerging markets consuming more and more.
“My plea is stronger than ever before. From 2008 onwards, the attention span of the media and others fell a bit because the economic story comes to the fore but it’s more important than ever,” he said. “It’s not only here. It’s in the emerging markets. The consumer needs to be reawakened but not by something the Government does. We cannot ask the Government to do that; we should do it. We are consumer-facing industries. We are the ones that have the direct contact. We can take responsibility. It’s more needed now.”
M&S embarked on a major sustainability drive in 2007, with the launch of its Plan A campaign, which set out 100 commitments to alleviate the impact of its business on the environment by 2012. Two years ago, M&S added another 80 pledges it hopes to hit by 2015, with then chairman Sir Stuart Rose saying the company wanted to be “the world’s most sustainable retailer”.
Of the UK retailer’s original commitments, it is, among others, on-track to be carbon neutral and to send no waste to landfill, Bolland said. The company is set to publish the latest results of its Plan A programme in the coming weeks.
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By GlobalData“I know how it difficult it is. We are in the middle of a project with 10,000 farmers and we are trying to build 200 Plan A factories in all kinds of countries where it is not always logical to think first about sustainability. We say to our suppliers: ‘If you are not there today, you’ll miss out tomorrow.’ It’s not always the cheapest but it’s the only way forward.”
Bolland plans to meet with M&S’s suppliers to discuss the retailer’s sustainability strategy, dialogue that he said plays a central role in the company meeting its objectives.
“We have been consistently driving that with our suppliers. I will be in a couple of weeks time to our suppliers and say: ‘This is the next direction we need to take.’ We try not only to do it by embedding it in our business model, we also call all the leading people from our suppliers to a high-level conference to discuss the next steps we can make. That engagement has helped tremendously. If they get engaged, then you get change.”
