The retailing paradox : a study of the green market development in food retailing

Abstract: CSR has become an important issue in the business practices of retailers worldwide. When it comes to the food sector, retailers are expected to adopt CSR practices and influence their consumers and supply chains to behave in a socially responsible way. Since the food consumption in answerable for 30 per cent of the negative environmentally impact the retailers are suggested to stimulate the green market development and sustainability in both production and consumption practices. This can be done with establishment of the responsible assortment. In relation to that, one of the main tools that food retailers use to create responsible assortment is called CSR labelling. The purpose of this study is to explore how food retail store managers engage to adopt CSR in the store assortment and how private eco-brands contribute to the green-market development in food retail. In order to achieve a widely understanding of food retailers practices when the creation of responsible assortment ant the stimulation of the green market development are in case, a qualitative method with 9 semi structured interviews was applied. The results show that retailers use CSR and eco-labells with the intention to motivate consumers to buy sustainable food products. The retailers are also showing increased attention of controlling the supply chain and influencing suppliers to behave in a socially responsible way. However, the findings indicates that both store managers and consumers need to be better informed about the benefit of the sustainable products.