Reconfiguring sustainable grocery retailing - a study on consumers’ resonance to sustainable retail approach

Abstract: To-date, sustainable consumption in grocery is gaining awareness. In response, different sustainable retailing approaches emerge. They entail different scale of changes to consumers’ current shopping practices, as well as varying visions of a sustainable living. This paper aims to shed light on the congruity between consumers’ notions of sustainability and retailers’ sustainable practices, in hope to enable consumers’ sustainable consumption towards a transition in society. Through the lens of practice theory, how different retailers’ initiatives can resonate and impact upon consumers, facilitating sustainable consumption and in turn, forming pathways for societal change in consumption pattern were explored. Looking into three different retailing approaches: the conventional, the radial and the intermediary, an ethnographic study was carried out, including observation in-store, analysis of marketing material, and in-depth interviews with retailers and consumers. The study found that while varying sustainable retail approaches enable different group of consumers to enact sustainable consumption, an intermediary position appears to better engage consumers in translating their notion of sustainability into everyday life’s practices, leading to a transition towards sustainable consumption.