Retail

Driving sustainable performance across the retail sector.
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The Challenge with Retail

With recent figures showing that 66% of consumers surveyed consider environmental impact when making a purchase, sustainability is increasingly becoming a strategic priority for retail companies globally. While Covid-19 was the stress test that no organisation had foreseen, it also drove operational change and action, shining a light on new solutions and strategies to achieve financial, environmental and social stability.

There is still much work to be done, however, as while action to reduce climate impact across the retail sector has increased, only a few large retail organisations are successfully embedding sustainable practices across their operations. From luxury apparel and fast fashion to grocery stores, home improvement and personal care brands, responsibility for evolving and advancing the retail sustainability agenda lies across the full value chain, and involves necessary changes that are both complex and multi-faceted.

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Case Studies

Cosmetics bottles on a shelf
case study
Overcoming legal challenges in plastics and packaging with Quadpack

The Situation Quadpack is a global cosmetics packaging manufacturer who wanted to better understand and assess compliance with present and future legal requirements for the plastics and packaging it produces and distributes across its markets. This knowledge is essential to anticipate regulatory changes and support its clients in adapting to new legal challenges.  Solutions Sustainable…

ESPR
case study
Unlocking Sustainability Goals with Circular Business Models

The Situation One of the world’s largest global retailers recently set an ambitious circularity goal: having 100% of owned brand products be designed for a circular future by 2040. Successfully achieving this requires the development of synergistic relationships between products and systems – circularity cannot be achieved with just product or business design, but with…

eucalyptus scaled 1
case study
Developing a Sustainability Supply Chain Strategy in Cosmetics

The Situation An early stage, high-growth cosmetics and personal care brand desired to define an authentic, purpose-based supply chain sustainability strategy, alongside its broader sustainability goals. This strategy aimed to build a future-facing operating model and to power the next phase of growth for the business by enabling visibility into their supply chain. Solutions Supply…

guess store
case study
Delivering Materiality and Sustainability Reporting for Guess

The Situation GUESS was looking for a partner to lead the development of its next sustainability report. The objective was to transition towards integrated financial and non-financial reporting gradually, while introducing a fresh sustainability strategy and goals. Additionally, the aim was to adopt a more strategic approach, discerning and leveraging the business value associated with…

computer user system scaled 1
case study
Grievance Mechanism Assessment for a Global Retailer

The Situation A global retailer commissioned us to analyse and improve their system for staff and third-parties to raise complaints, in line with regulatory requirements and best practice. Our Solutions We reviewed policies on grievance processes, analysed complaints data, and interviewed relevant staff. Additionally, we evaluated the grievance mechanism against requirements in the German Supply…

gelato
case study
Implementing a Food Loss and Waste Programme for Righteous Gelato

The Situation Righteous Gelato is a small-batch gelato company with factory operations based in Calgary, Canada. The organisation’s mission is to enrich people’s lives, one tiny spoonful at a time. Righteous Gelato use honest ingredients and nothing artificial. The purpose of the project was to prevent and reduce food loss and waste at the Righteous…

Meeting
case study
Conducting a Materiality Assessment for The North Face

The Situation The objectives of The North Face were two-fold: for the organisation to understand how its stakeholders and staff view the brand’s sustainability position in relation to its competitors and understand their thoughts on where the organisation should focus; secondly to bring these insights together and highlight how it can inform future strategy. Solutions…

Clothes
case study
Textile Brand Certification Strategy for a Global Apparel Retailer

The Situation An apparel retailer was working to determine a strategy for certifying its supply chain against industry textile sustainability standards (e.g. Textile Exchange CCS 3.0, G.O.T.S., FSC, etc.) and exercise best practices supporting product claims. The apparel retailer wanted support and analysis to understand the following: This analysis would be used to develop a…

sewing needle and thread
case study
Developing a Sustainable Fibre Strategy for Peak Performance

The Situation Peak Performance is a leading sports apparel brand with an ambitious sustainability agenda. The company took part in the European Clothing Action Plan, which aimed to adopt circular approaches to clothing in collaboration with 13 brands across Europe. Peak Performance worked with Anthesis, in partnership with WRAP, on the area of sustainable fibres, to…

Tesco
case study
Developing Sustainability-linked Supply Chain Finance Product for Tesco

The Situation Anthesis has been a trusted advisor to Tesco for over seven years and has been supporting the company by embedding its sustainability goals within its supply chain as part of the Tesco Supplier Network platform. As an industry leader, Tesco was eager to identify novel levers that could be deployed to help incentivise…

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Over the last 18 months, Anthesis’ expert but human approach has seen our partnership grow across a multitude of areas of ESG. An absolute pleasure to work with, Anthesis have seamlessly integrated into our ways of working. Immediately grasping where we were in our ESG maturity, they have shown a genuine desire to help us move things forward through applying expertise and passion from across a vast array of subjects and sectors.

AO

We were able to create a leading policy on a tight timeline, thanks to the great collaboration and leading expertise provided by Anthesis.

Zalando

The supply chain report produced by Anthesis was a key element of the success of the initial public offering (IPO) of In The Style. The report ensured investor confidence in ITS and set out a clear roadmap to guide progress.

Liberium

Our chemical strategy will be one of the most comprehensive in the U.S. retail industry, including all Target-owned and national brand products and operations, not just formulated products.

Target

J&J has been a proud member of Product Sustainability Round Table since 2007 and our membership has been a vital component of our product stewardship strategy. It helps us benchmark against other organisations, share best practices, and prepare for emerging trends and issues. The PSRT Leadership Framework has also supported J&J in our path towards more fully institutionalising sustainability across the organisation.

Johnson & Johnson

Anthesis has been instrumental in helping us quantify our carbon footprint and understand where our biggest opportunities lie over the years. This long-term support has allowed us to reach carbon neutrality and maintain our status as the UK’s most ethical water brand – an essential part of what Belu stands for.

Belu Water

Anthesis has been an important thought-partner for us. They’ve been so helpful in getting the vendors on board and engaged. We’ve really relied on their expertise and experience to guide us through this process.

GAP

Solutions for the Retail Sector

Our experts are dedicated to activating change throughout the whole consumer product ecosystem. We work with retail organisations worldwide, including 7 of the top 10 retailers in the Fortune 500, to identify and implement opportunities to drive systemic change while building business value, and to define and implement robust sustainability strategies.

Our experts also work with suppliers to improve their environmental and social performance, and collaborate with industry bodies to drive collective action.

The enablers we see as the strongest ways to drive sustainability progress in retail business:

  • Technological advances in supply chain traceability, transparency and data collection
  • Engaging and supporting suppliers to take climate action
  • Industry collaboration to create solutions, drive sustainable product design and accelerate progress
  • Educating the consumer on the sustainability impacts of their buying and product use decisions

Retail Insights

Retail Team

Adrià Gelabert
Adrià Gelabert

Director

Spain

Honor Cowen
Honor Cowen

Director

North America

Simon Davis
Simon Davis

Director

UK

We are the world’s leading purpose driven, digitally enabled, science-based activator. And always welcome inquiries and partnerships to drive positive change together.

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