Consumers Expect Retailers to Take a Stand on Issues, NRF Webcast Told

In what has become a race to be the most sustainable among brands and retailers, companies need to be sure their efforts are seen as authentic, a National Retail Federation webcast was told Tuesday.

Forrester analyst Sucharita Kodali said consumers are increasingly buying more from smaller, newer retailers “espousing values” vs. big box stores. Values messaging being touted covers the environment, equity and community themes, she said. Despite being politically independent, members of a target group Forrester identified as largely under 35 and middle- and upper-middle class “still have things that they believe in,” said the analyst. The more that brands espouse and overlap with the demographic's values, that’s where “more dollars go,” she said.

Consumers are asking retailers to take a stand on issues, whether environmental, gender equity or wage-related, Kodali said. In many cases, retailers would “rather just stay neutral because they may not have the goods to back up whatever it is that they’re being asked to support.”

But that’s not possible today, Kodali said, and it’s something all retailers in the future will have to grapple with. There’s the “likelihood that some portion of the population may choose not to do business with them if they disagree,” she said. With so much competition in the market today, “retailers really aren’t going to have a choice but to take a stand” on issues, “and it will have consequences,” she said: “It’s the cost of doing business today.”

SKDK Partner Bill Knapp said a challenge is to be viewed as “authentic,” vs. espousing “wokeism.” Knapp cited SKDK research that included a survey of 2,000 voters, focus group studies and a follow-up survey with 1,000 respondents that was done for retailers and politicians to determine a link between political views and shopping behavior.

Knapp identified a group of “aspirational independents,” 50 years and younger, mostly under 35, 51% white, urban and suburban, middle class and upper middle class, who are “moderate in their views.” The respondents largely weren’t tethered to either political party, comprising “soft” Democrats and Republicans and a large number of independents. The group tended to shun the current political environment, Knapp said, and crave ideas that are “new and different” that have “authenticity.” Hypocrisy for the group “is kryptonite,” he said.

On the shopping side, the respondents generally liked variety, were “looking for something new,” shopped online and in stores and want shopping to “be fun,” he said. Though they shopped all types of retailers, the respondents supported retailers in their communities and neighborhoods, he said.