{"id":22143,"date":"2023-03-15T09:52:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T09:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/?p=22143"},"modified":"2023-03-15T09:52:10","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T09:52:10","slug":"consumers-care-deeply-about-sustainability-chalhoub-group-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2023\/03\/15\/consumers-care-deeply-about-sustainability-chalhoub-group-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Consumers care deeply about sustainability\u2019: Chalhoub Group manager"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- VideographyWP Plugin Message: Automatic video embedding prevented by plugin options. --><br \/>\nConsumers buying luxury products are deeply concerned about sustainably sourced items, Chalhoub Group chief sustainability officer Florence Bulte said on Wednesday at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2023\/03\/14\/the-retail-summit-kicks-off-in-dubai\/\">The Retail Summit<\/a> in Dubai.<\/p>\n<p>The event is taking place at The Atlantis, The Palm, until March 15.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to<em> ME Retail News<\/em>, Ms Bulte said that retailers must show consumers that they are being ethical in sourcing their products and reducing waste.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaking the packaging sustainable, reusable, bio-degradable, and reducing plastics are tangible actions retailers can take to relate with customers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chalhoub Group has removed all plastic from packaging products across all the brands it is a franchiser.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have removed bubble wrapping from packaging products on our e-commerce platform as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms Bulte added that sustainability is not just about the environment. It also ties in with ESG strategies to increase diversity within employees.<\/p>\n<p>The company has hired more women, and also increased accessibility of stores to accommodate people with physical disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>The company is also hiring younger employees to increase youth employment.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the group is condensing the number of suppliers as well to reduce its carbon footprint, and sourcing locally wherever possible.<\/p>\n<p>It is also switching to using suppliers who meet green certifications.<\/p>\n<p>A report by management consulting company McKinsey recently showed that global sustainability investment has topped the $30 trillion mark.<\/p>\n<p>It also showed that 70 per cent of consumers would pay a five per cent premium for a green product or service if it performed as well as a non-green alternative.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDeveloping a circular economy is important for Chalhoub Group,\u201d said Ms Bulte.<\/p>\n<p>Adding that retailers should be customer-centric, Ms Bulte said that customers want to know the manufacturing trajectory of a product.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCustomers do buy from high-end brands for the name, the luxurious fabric, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2023\/03\/15\/curated-products-have-helped-us-retain-customers-mytheresa-ceo\/\">personalised<\/a> experience, but they also want to know more. They want to know how the product was made, and what values the brand holds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>60 per cent of luxury buyers in GCC also want to buy pre-loved items, which shows they are conscious of the environment and wish to be sustainable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBe customer-centric and actively listen to customers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sustainability should help the business grow as well, and all employees should be on board.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHave strong KPIs and a long term vision. Sustainability cannot be a short term vision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms Bulte said that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2023\/03\/15\/uae-retailers-look-to-homegrown-brands\/\">retailers<\/a> should begin their journey in sustainability now, if they did not earlier.<\/p>\n<p>They also need to educate and engage with customers to better position their company as a sustainable brand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consumers buying luxury products are deeply concerned about sustainability, Chalhoub Group chief sustainability officer Florence Bulte said on Wednesday at The Retail Summit in Dubai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":22144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[3977,4735],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22145,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22143\/revisions\/22145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}