Article written by Richard Piper, business development director at Webloyalty.
There’s never been more focus on waste management in retail than there is today.
It’s very much welcome that retailers are focusing on what is, at first glance, an unglamourous part of their operations. It’s a sign big businesses are increasingly realising that making an impact by bringing compelling products to market to drive sales must be done so while minimising their impact on the planet.
I’ve been interested to see stories on Green Retail World highlighting this trend. From Tesco working with GS1UK to put new-style barcodes on packaging that help give a clearer view of inventory across the organisation and provide intelligence to optimise sell-through, to B&Q recycling old plant pots into new ones to reduce virgin material usage, there are a plethora of good practice ideas out there.
You used to only read trade press articles that focused on top- and bottom-line numbers, new ranges, strategic appointments, and intriguing new partnerships. Now these stories are heavily accompanied by news of second-hand clothing becoming cool again, the need to reuse packaging, and food waste reduction being the route to profitability.
My argument is there’s a lot the wider business can learn from sustainability teams involved in such projects.
I don’t pretend that this is an article about sustainability per se, but the concept of doubling down on waste management is a mantra that can help multiple departments within a retail organisation. Let’s consider the following three examples.
Sweating those online assets yet?
There’s a lot of wasted space in online marketing communications.
Retailers are addressing this to an extent, notably though the rise in retail media. Those with the busiest online traffic – Tesco, Boots, and Deliveroo, for example – have spent the last few years commercialising their online real estate, selling ad space on their websites and other channels to brands so they can target a particular audience.
But they could go a lot further – particularly in the post purchase communication. Retailers now talk to consumers through email and other comms the moment a sale has been made, when the order is in transit, the moment a home delivery has arrived, in the event a return is made, and then to ask them “how did I do?” at the end of it all.
That’s at least five aftersales chats retailers are having with a customer, all of which capture shoppers in at least semi-buying mode.
Are enough retailers using these junctures to advertise more products, upsell, or further commercialise their offering? Some are. Trainline, for example, sends booking confirmations to its customers that include an array of seemingly paid-for partner links to services such as station parking or hotel booking.
But not many others follow suit.
Are you resistant to commercial partners?
Retailers are precious about their brand, and so they should be. In many cases, they’ve spent decades establishing their name in the market and don’t want to do anything that causes friction with the hard-earned customer, so they opt to steer clear of partnerships.
But in the current inflationary environment and crowded market it seems every consumer pound is heavily contested, so they might want to change tact. They might see their previous approach as wasteful.
Not only do retailers have their traditional competitors to contend with, but emerging international marketplaces that undercut on price, start-ups on Shopify that didn’t exist yesterday but can offer a broad range of goods today, and – of course – Amazon are all there to eat into their market share. It’s a tough climate to be trading in.
Such a landscape means, retailers should be looking for commercial partnerships that give them access to a new revenue stream. Evidence of this in motion is The Entertainer taking space in Tesco stores to sell to a captive market, eBay establishing and supporting dedicated online preloved stores for major brands such as Marks & Spencer, and Secret Sales teaming up with us at Webloyalty to offer its customers access to cash back rewards programmes that also provide the retailer with an additional revenue stream.
Where are the profit-sapping pinch points?
Cost of acquisition online is huge when retailers consider the upfront marketing costs required to capture and convert a customer, while underperforming stores are often the first thing to go when a retailer assesses the balance sheet during particularly squeezed times. Retailers’ economic pinch points are manifold right now.
Those thinking about these issues through a waste management lens should be best placed to stop leaking cash. For example, doubling down on retention – as the likes of Screwfix, Fenwick, and Paul Smith have done through the launch of loyalty schemes in 2025 – is a way of offsetting the acquisition spend, while investing in dedicated click & collect stations in stores as Co-op and Zara have done in 2025 can help retailers generate more value from their expensive real estate.
For many fashion retailers, more than 40% of products sold are then returned at a later date – a massive burden on staff resources and a weight on the bottom line. Asos is a prime example of a retailer looking to address this in the name of improving profitability, and in recent financial statements has spoken of its successful efforts in “removing waste, both in terms of time and costs” by tightening its inventory and returns management processes.
These moves are indicative of a retailer that is thinking about waste management as a term in more than just the environmental sense.
Who says sustainability teams in retail are lacking influence? The very essence of how they work, every day, should be taken on board by their colleagues in other departments to make sure there is no wastage anywhere in a business.
From cutting down on returns or reducing the need for virgin resources by reusing materials and investing in resale initiatives, to making best use of all customer communication channels, there are so many things that constitute astute waste management strategy in modern retailing.
Developing a greater waste avoidance attitude contributes to a retailer’s success and viability in the long run. And perhaps using this language internally, such as “removing waste” in inventory management, or embarking on a marketing “waste management” strategy, might etch a more sustainable mindset into the wider business.
As I said, this is not an article about sustainability – it’s not for me to advise retailers on environmental strategy – but the phraseology used by teams operating in those circles can be a powerful enabler when deployed in other areas of the retail organisation.
From Secret Sales and Wowcher to Odeon and National Express, Webloyalty works with a multitude of organisations to help drive new revenue. Contact the business development director richard.piper@webloyalty.co.uk to discuss partnership opportunities today.
[image credit: Webloyalty]
