Drivers, opportunities and barriers for a retailer in the pursuit of more sustainable packaging redesign

Redesign can reduce the environmental impact generated by product packaging. The literature presents the elements to be observed in a packaging redesign, as well as the important role of the retailer in delivering more sustainable outcomes through consideration of product packaging. However, the literature is almost silent on the motivations, opportunities and barriers faced by the retailers that try to improve the packaging of the items sold in their stores. To fill this gap, a case study approach was adopted which investigated a global supermarket chain through interviews with senior management and participant observation. Findings suggest that the greatest motivation to the packaging redesign seems to be the economic gains (for the supermarket and its suppliers), which co-generate environmental gains. The opportunities include the adjustment of the packaging size or type. Sizes could be increased when consumers buy more than one package during a single visit to the supermarket, or reduced when consumers discard part of a perishable product without consuming it (due to over-large packaging). Barriers result from commercial uncertainties associated with: how the new packaging will affect the sales of other items? How the new design will influence the number of times that a consumer visits the supermarket? And how the new design will affect the amount of money spent by the consumer on each visit? Further studies could investigate: how to mitigate these uncertainties? How to leverage sustainability based on the economic focus? How to identify redesign opportunities among thousands of sold items? And how to better convince the suppliers that reject the supermarket proposals? The understanding developed from the case study has facilitated the derivation of a number of propositions aiming to leverage sustainability gains from packaging redesign in practice

Green marketing in supermarkets: Conventional and digitized marketing alternatives to reduce waste

This article seeks to identify and analyze green marketing actions that can reduce food waste (FW) of short shelf life (SSL) products by retailers and to propose effective FW mitigation strategies. The article is based on a multiple case study of selected supermarkets that have enacted strategies that emphasize FW reduction. The findings unveil both conventional or digitized green marketing actions that should be implemented in the following sequence: product, place, price, and promotion. First, products need to be grouped into categories based on retailers’ brand and suppliers’ brand. This help to prevent future problems with the items that bear the supermarket’s brand. This categorization is also helpful in defining the right place, price, and promotion for products with SSL. Besides, the pricing of items with SSL should be dynamic. Lastly, careful attention paid to where offers are placed inside stores also can also help to leverage sales, leading to reduced food waste.This work was financially supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq (edital 23/2018 ) and the PQ grant Process: 306785/2019-6

Industry-retail symbiosis: What we should know to reduce perishable processed food disposal for a wider circular economy

This exploratory paper investigates how to reduce 25% of the potential perishable processed food disposal (PPFD) in the industrial-retail sector in a specific emerging economy The data were collected through 28 semi-structured interviews with suppliers and supermarket managers in an emerging economy. The findings contribute by revealing a paradox and a symbiosis that can advance the circular economy (CE). This paradox begins when suppliers reduce their own food disposal by offering benefits to supermarkets, which helps to sell items close to their expiration date. However, these benefits may induce supermarkets to place orders that exceed their sales capacity. When supermarkets do not sell these items before their expiration date, the products tend to be returned to the supplier, thus reducing the supermarket's waste but increasing the supplier's waste. These actions reveal a paradox: reducing PPFD in one link of the supply chain may exacerbate it in another. “Industry-Retail symbiosis” can improve the CE. Such symbiosis emerges when suppliers reduce their margins to offer additional benefits to supermarkets. These additional benefits improve supermarkets' sales to consumers with lower purchasing power or to smaller retailers that may use the items immediately, thus avoiding the return of items which are still suitable for human consumption and thereby improving the CE. Future studies could investigate: how to enhance Industry-Retail Symbiosis; what managerial information is required to use technologies to align products, stocks, prices, and stores; how suppliers can best manage the benefits offered to retailers or their partnerships with other suppliers (e.g., a shared sales center to improve symbiosis with retailers); and how retailers can best manage alternative sales channels and store managers' autonomy.This work was financially supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq (edital 23/2018) and the PQ grant Process: 306785/2019-6