Technology driven sustainability – MiPlanet

NATIONAL

The role of independent supermarkets in sustainable shopping.

Embracing environmental sustainability by connecting with sustainability conscious customers will give Independents an edge to compete.

As Australia enters its third year of the COVID-19 global pandemic, one narrative persistently pursues the grocery retail industry – faltering supply chains, ongoing staff shortages and challenges of stalwart compliance, with ever-changing health orders and public safety concerns.

One may be forgiven for thinking the coronavirus and its myriad impacts are the sum and substance of this generation’s spending habits, tarnished as they are by tales of hoarded toilet paper and beef mince, Battle Royale. This myopic lens, however, overlooks the broader trend distilling in decades of retail data –sustainable shopping.

“It might surprise some retailers that sustainable shopping has grown more important to consumers in the last 19 months,” says Lorraine Whitmarsh, Professor of Environmental Psychology and Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation in the UK. “During the global financial crisis of 2008, we saw that climate change concern massively dropped. What we’re seeing now is it’s really embedded.”

Whitmarsh contends that concern over environmental degradation and climate change, already at an all-time high in 2019 just prior to the pandemic, actually rose in the years that followed.

So how can independent grocery retailers use sustainability to capitalise on the zeitgeist and regain market share? It is no secret that the last decade has seen independent retailers fighting to retain profitability. With successive governments legislating to the advantage of major players, Woolworths now dominates the grocery sector in Australia, with a 37% market share. Coles comes in second place, holding 28% of the market. While Aldi has a smaller market share (11%), it is rapidly growing, up from just 4% in 2009. Trading as IGA, Metcash comes in fourth place, with a 7% market share1.

Whilst Metcash 7% market share2 is far from chump change, it is worth taking a holistic view of multigenerational spending to see how this breaks down along sustainability lines.

According to the ABS, Australians spent $10.8 billion at the supermarket in September 2021, which is equivalent to about $508 per person.

On average, Millennials and Gen Y pay the most for their weekly shop ($173), followed by Gen X ($169), and Baby Boomers, who spend an average of just $132 per household per week. While many experts would credit the boomer generation for their savvy saving habits and perhaps fault the younger generations for their lack of same, it is worth noting that each cohort applies a different lens to ethical shopping, with concern for environmental outcomes highest in the younger age bracket.

In Australia, Millennials and Gen Y are spearheading a global demand for sustainability and are willing to sacrifice potential savings to support environmentally conscious products and companies.

According to Nielsen’s 2015 Global Corporate Sustainability Report, 66 percent of consumers say they are willing to pay a premium for goods produced and sold by sustainable