Summary

• Sustainability in retail is necessary for saving the environment and creating more successful strategies in your business.  
• Retailers strive to meet sustainability expectations but often struggle with environmental regulations, reducing waste, and maintaining profitability.
• AI-powered retail technology can help retailers make sustainable choices, from inventory management to understanding customer preferences.
• Implementing AI-driven solutions allows retailers to enhance brand reputation, increase customer loyalty, and drive practices that benefit both business and the environment.

Introduction – Retail’s Environmental Impact

Sustainability has been one of the most talked about topics in the retail industry over recent years – and for good reason. 

Deloitte reported that the retail supply chain currently contributes 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the fashion industry is responsible for 92 million tonnes of waste in landfills every year. 

Customers have also increasingly demanded that businesses embrace sustainability. Over the last five or so years, there has been a 71% rise in online searches for sustainable goods globally. 

A Sustainable Approach to Success

Brands have been working towards creating more sustainable retail to combat these detrimental effects while attempting to meet the rising sustainability expectations of customers, regulators, stakeholders, etc. Still, these changes can be challenging to implement.  

To become more sustainable and prioritize a strong brand image, retailers must buy into the right trends at the right time, maintain correct inventory levels, reduce stock waste, and discount appropriately. 

However, retailers often struggle to keep up with environmental regulations and sustainability trends while reducing waste, maintaining profitability, and increasing efficiencies across their businesses.

Creating Sustainable Practices with Retail Technology

Although embracing sustainability in retail may seem challenging, AI-powered retail technology can help you make sustainable choices for the environment that are simultaneously sustainable for your retail business’s operations and overall profitability.  

For example, this retail intelligence software can help your team identify the right product and assortment mixes to put into your assortment in the first place, ultimately reducing inventory at the end of the season. 

This technology also tracks data across your enterprise business and market trends so you can understand pricing and determine whether customers will pay more for “organic” or certain sustainable trends. 

Regarding returns – a massive issue for retail business’s profitability and sustainability – you can utilize AI retail technology to determine problem products and customers, while developing a more sustainable product cycle by selling to the right people in the right channel.

Driving Success for Your Business and the Environment

By implementing an AI-driven solution, retailers can effectively take a sustainable approach to success. 

EDITED’s Retail Intelligence Platform allows retailers to increase full-price sell-through rates, reduce excess inventory, minimize returns, execute more sustainable workflows into everyday processes, enhance brand reputation, and increase customer loyalty – all while driving practices that are better for our environment.  

If you want to implement better strategies for business and the world, schedule a chat with us here to discover how EDITED can help.