Pilot Pen G2 Edge

Social issues a priority for retailers

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Economic recovery and the prospect of strong retail sales growth were the headline topics at the National Retail Federation’s inaugural State of Retail and the Consumer event earlier this month.

But a panel of retail leaders at the event also discussed how their companies intend to deal not just with the economic opportunity ahead, but also with the social scars left by the events of the past year.

“As retailers, especially those of us with stores, we operate in communities,” Albertsons Cos. president and chief executive officer Vivek Sankaran said. “We hire from within those communities. We serve people in those communities.”

Sankaran said retailers act as stewards of the communities they serve, and that consumers expect them to help out by, in Albertsons’ case, providing hunger relief, or doing what they can to help people get vaccinated quickly. The expectation that retailers will help out also extends to social justice, he said.

“The racial tension that we saw in the last year, for us, was a huge catalyst,” Sankaran said. “We’ve got to make our commitment to diversity and equity and inclusion programmatically, and not episodically, as I think we have done in the past. So in addition to being faster and being safer and having the right product at the right time and all of those things, I think we, as retailers, have to add a new set of responsibilities for the communities that we operate in. Our customers and investors are going to expect it.”

Being inclusive has always been a priority for Sephora, said president and CEO Jean-André Rougeot.

“But obviously after the murder of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement really had an impact on us as a company,” he said.

The company conducted a study examining racial bias in the retail sector.

“And we found that not only at Sephora but across retail there really is an issue of racism in stores,” Rougeot said. “A lot of it is unconscious bias, but we as retailers have to make a change.”

Rougeot said he is proud of the way his company has responded.

“It makes us a better company internally, and it also makes us more successful commercially, because it is such a diverse consumer now in America. If we want to succeed long term, our people and our leadership have to reflect that diversity and the wealth of differences in America.”


BEIRES_728x90


You must be logged in to post a comment Login