Sustainable Consumption: The Retailing Paradox
Understanding the Paradox
By Alan Knight, (former) Head of Social Responsibility, Kingfisher plc
For a global retailer like Kingfisher, with over 600 home improvement stores in 12 countries and sales last year of over £7 billion, actively promoting consumption is what we do. We need to ensure the forward progression and growth of the business, and that means persuading more people to go into more of our shops and buy more products, more often.
So an acknowledgement that present rates of consumption, both globally and in particular the developed Western World, need to slow down - even decrease - if we are to sustain our available natural resources, does not immediately sit easily with a business like ours: given the obvious solution to many people is to reduce consumption and persuade our customers to buy fewer products, less often.
This is the apparent paradox facing responsible retailers - how to continue to promote consumption while also promoting sustainability. But it is crucial that we face up to it and seek to find workable and retail-friendly solutions. Sustainable consumption is a huge debate, one we are only just being to scratch the surface of, but one that retailers must engage with fully if meaningful decisions are to be made.
The article was written by SDC Commissioner, Dr Alan Knight and was first published in Consumer Policy Review Magazine. Alan is Co-Chair of the Sustainable Consumption Roundtable
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