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Sustainable Development in Retail: Measuring What Matters

Sustainability matters to the modern consumer to a far greater degree than most retailers are willing to admit. As global connectivity continues to rise, generational shifts are coming to play an increasingly important role in setting new consumer trends — of which sustainability is at the core.

The Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial and Gen Z survey made clear that millennials and Gen Zers, the dominant consumers of tomorrow, are channelling their energies into holding themselves and others accountable. Further, they’re the people most likely to shun companies whose actions conflict with their personal values.

In exploring the importance of sustainability to these consumers, consider that seven in 10 millennials feel that businesses focus on their own agendas rather than considering the wider society. Like millennials, fewer than half of Gen Zers see business as a force for good in society. Further, 62% of millennials agree that businesses “have no ambition beyond wanting to make money.”

These numbers should be cause for alarm in the retail sector. As we would refer to a sleeping giant as something powerful that has not yet shown the full extent of its strength, retailers must wake up to the immense influence of sustainability, especially with the younger consumer demographic. By realising the weight of its importance to consumers, it will likely be a game-changer in securing the loyalty of a large value-driven customer base.

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Accepting the Challenge

As retailers, we must ensure we not only keep up with rapidly changing consumer habits but stay one step ahead — anticipating new needs and delivering on expectations. Customers are demanding to be part of the sustainability conversation, and they are increasingly using their wallets to make their voices heard.

Case studies from around the world are already available to showcase the successful adoption of such initiatives. For example, Tesco’s Little Helps Plan, a framework to shape long-term sustainability by enabling the company to demonstrate, monitor and improve performance under four pillars — People, Product, Planet and Places — is seeking to make a difference on issues such as diversity and inclusion, healthy sustainable diets, climate change and food poverty.

At Majid Al Futtaim, this ambition takes the shape of our Dare Today, Change Tomorrow strategy — bringing together all our businesses under one overarching approach to sustainability. Our sustainability strategy is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), supporting our aspirations to deliver a significant impact through our operations and engagement with our stakeholders. Comprising three pillars: Transforming Lives, Rethinking Resources and Empowering our People, our sustainability strategy delivers impactful outcomes with real-world benefits for our communities.

For example, under our Transforming Lives pillar, to help us mitigate our business risks and drive positive change within our supply chain, we launched our Responsible Procurement Policy in 2020. Currently, 85% of our food suppliers have food waste policies in place. Under our Rethinking Resources pillar, the launch of our circular economy strategy, Unlocking Value, was an important milestone in our journey.

Through these activities, we aim to harness the estimated $4.49 trillion in economic output the circular economy could generate by 2030. And under our Empowering our People pillar, our comprehensive training program and dedicated Leadership Institute provides career development opportunities for all our employees and ensures they have the skills necessary to grow and adapt in today’s dynamic work environment. Toward that aim, we also launched our sustainability e-learning module to more than 9,250 of our office-based employees across 17 countries.

Turning Ambition Into Action

To date, our accomplishments have been met with consumer support, manifesting in various stand-out initiatives. Many of these joint initiatives also involve local government partners and NGOs. In Egypt, for example, through local government and NGOs like US Aid, we collaborate with more than 320 local SMB suppliers to meet the needs of our customers and support the local economy. This demonstrates the importance and impact of private-public collaborations in strengthening sourcing from local SMBs. In total, we are committed to sourcing more than 80% of our products from the region to support local producers and suppliers, families and economies.

Plastic is another central issue in the retail sector’s sustainability journey. Minimising the use of plastic is essential for many well-established reasons, both the carbon emissions produced in its manufacture and its slow compostability littering the environment. The sector shares a responsibility to tackle the issue by phasing out the distribution of single-use plastic and incentivising sustainable alternatives such as reusable eco-bags. Beyond reducing plastic bags, numerous exciting initiatives are now arising in support of that goal, including zero-waste detergent refilling stations by Planet Pure that encourage the use of reusable containers while simultaneously diminishing the demand for single-use plastic containers.

Retailers are also introducing an increasingly popular concept — in-store hydroponic farms visible to customers to drastically reduce food miles of produce. Not only do they assure freshness; they critically consume 90% less water than traditional soil agriculture yet deliver large quantities of fresh herbs and microgreens daily right at the store.

Becoming Future Focused

We are starting to see in this region, as it is around the world, that there is no longer a space for ‘greenwashing’ sustainability tactics. Consumers are already demanding authentic sustainability as a fundamental requirement from retailers, who now have a critical role in promoting and improving the accessibility of sustainable goods for all. Today, only the sincerest sustainability initiatives will pass the test in a world where consumers are increasingly aware of, and engaged with, vital social and environmental issues.

To measure all that matters regarding the sustainable development of our business, Majid Al Futtaim performs annual audits and reports on its sustainability progress. Looking ahead, I hope companies big and small become involved in this journey and measure their progress too. We believe sustainability is the correct route for environmental and social reasons and, I believe, the best business strategy for long-term sustained prosperity.


Hani Weiss is CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Retail, the exclusive franchisee to operate Carrefour in over 31 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Weiss is responsible for developing and growing the company’s Carrefour franchise business and establishing market leadership across all countries it operates in through exceptional customer centricity and a strong omnichannel offering. This includes reimaging the stores of the future and the execution of a digital transformation. Weiss began his career at Majid Al Futtaim – Retail in 2001 and his lengthy experience within the operation, and unparalleled understanding of the food retail business saw him promoted to CEO in September 2017. Today, he leads a business of more than 37,000 colleagues, operates over 375 Carrefour stores across 17 countries in the region and serves more than 750,000 customers a day. Weiss holds an Executive MBA from the London School of Business (Dubai campus) and has completed the Senior Executive Development programme at HEC Paris.

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