Sustainability reports are a crucial instrument to inform outside stakeholders not only about a company's sustainability performance but also to manage impressions. However, they are often prone to greenwashing and the reporting of negative topics can jeopardize corporate legitimacy. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze reporting quality and how grocery retailing companies deal with this challenge of reporting the true picture. The empirical material is taken from the latest sustainability reports and information available on the Internet for two major German supermarkets, six grocery discount retailers, and two organic supermarkets. The Global Reporting Initiative standards are used to assess and compare the extent of information disclosure. A qualitative content analysis is applied to identify negative disclosure aspects and their legitimation. While the main focus areas (supply chain, employees, eironment/climate, and society) are similar for the companies, different levels of reporting quality appeared. Negative information is rarely reported and “abstraction” and “indicating facts” are the dominant legitimation strategies.
Purpose Commonly, supermarkets are perceived as more sustainable than discount stores, which are accused of following an aggressive price and no-frills approach. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to iestigate whether supermarkets and discounters differ substantially in their sustainability communication. Design/methodology/approach Sustainability reports and in-store communication are two important channels for retailers’ sustainability communication. To analyze both communication channels, the authors use a multi-method approach with data triangulation, analyzing sustainability reports and store observations of eight German retailers (two supermarket chains, six discount chains). Findings The study reveals no major differences between supermarkets and discounters regarding the readability of sustainability reports and the number of key figures on sustainability presented. However, supermarkets perform significantly better in translating sustainability to the store level than discounters. Furthermore, the results indicate that poor quality in the readability analysis is reflected in fewer concrete data provided in the sustainability reports and poorer translation of sustainability to the retail store. Originality/value This paper presents an empirical analysis of how well German retailers communicate about sustainability on both the report and the store level for the interest of academia and retail managers. It reveals different performance qualities among retail chains and retail formats and identifies the shortcomings within current reporting legislation with a clear indication toward policy makers.
Sustainable retailing
(2018)
Enforcing and communicating sustainability is one of the biggest challenges for retailers in today’s business eironment. Retailers are facing pressure from various stakeholders since the topic of sustainability is constantly moving up the agendas of companies, politics, and the media. Additionally, it is intensely discussed by a critical public. This dissertation consists of three related studies – one conceptual study and two research studies – that analyze sustainable behavior, reporting and communication in grocery retailing in Germany. In particular, sustainable behavior is compared across different retail formats. In the first study, the business model of grocery discounters and supermarkets is compared with respect to the impact on sustainability. The cost-leadership strategy applied by discounters is analyzed regarding its influence on strong and weak sustainability. The second article focuses on supermarkets, discounters and organic supermarkets. Based on the sustainability reports it is examined which information is disclosed and which legitimation strategies are applied if negative impacts have to be reported. The analysis revealed that, even within the same industry and country, a wide range with respect to quality levels of sustainability reporting exists. Furthermore, all retailers are reluctant about reporting negative aspects and frequently use similar legitimation strategies. The third article deals with communication of sustainability of both supermarkets and discounters comparing sustainability reporting and communication in the stores. It is shown that no clear difference between sustainability reporting of discounters and supermarkets was observable. However, supermarkets outperformed discounters with respect to in-store communication.
Gegenstand: Analyse der Marktsituation, Herausforderungen und Zukunftsperspektiven des Lebensmittel-Online-Handels in Deutschland Methode: Literaturanalyse Ziele: Ableitung angebots- und nachfragebezogener Kriterien zur Analyse des Lebensmittel-Online-Handels ; Betrachtung wissenschaftlicher und praxisbezogener Publikationen und Analyse anhand deren Einschätzung zu den Erfolgsaussichten des Lebensmittel-Online-Handels ; Analyse der fünf größten deutschen Lebensmittel-Online-Händler anhand der definierten angebots- und nachfragebezogenen Kriterien ; Ableitung der Zukunftsperspektiven des Lebensmittel-Online-Handels für den deutschen Markt Zentrale Ergebnisse: Der Lebensmittel-Online-Handel in Deutschland kann aktuell nicht profitabel sein. ; Die grundsätzlich unterschiedlichen Strategien der stationären deutschen Lebensmitteleinzelhändler verdeutlichen die Herausforderungen. ; Die aktiven deutschen Online-Händler experimentieren mit verschiedenen Modellen und unterscheiden sich vor allem bei der Zustellung, dem Lieferzeitpunkt, der Liefergeschwindigkeit und den Versandkosten. Kunden werden beim Lebensmitteleinkauf voraussichtlich zunehmend in den Online-Kanal abwandern, so dass der deutsche Lebensmitteleinzelhandel diese Herausforderungen schnellstmöglich lösen sollte.