The retail sector continues to face mounting pressure to meet higher standards of social and environmental responsibility. A recent survey found that over the next three years, 90 percent of organizations intend to ramp up their investments in ESG in response to both regulatory pressures and growing consumer preferences for sustainable products. Seventy-three percent of millennials now…
Eric Linxwiler
The European Union is moving forward with one of the world’s most significant supply chain laws. After years of heated debate, the European Parliament voted this April to adopt its long-anticipated Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which will require companies to implement policies to mitigate environmental and human rights abuses in their supply chains.…
Across the globe, a transformative wave is reshaping the landscape of international commerce. Nations and economic blocs worldwide are instituting a broad array of supply chain due diligence laws aimed at eradicating forced labor and safeguarding human rights. These regulations mark the most concerted global push ever for more ethical supply chains, signaling an era…
Every month brings new evidence of how dramatically consumers’ growing preferences for sustainability are reshaping their shopping habits. A new study by NIQ found that 69 percent of global consumers say that sustainability and ESG concerns have become increasingly important to them over the last two years. Another study of U.S. consumers found that 66…
The fashion industry is still struggling to meet the expectations of a consumer base that has become increasingly conscious of the environmental and social impact of their clothing choices. In the U.S., 80 percent of consumers indicate that sustainability is a crucial factor when selecting a fashion brand. Younger shoppers in particular have shown that…
Product lifecycle management (PLM) software has become a necessity for retailers and brands that have partly or fully outsourced their supply chains. The right PLM can help businesses shorten product development cycles, reduce time to market, and control costs, all of which are essential at a time when consumers are demanding more variety than ever…
The days when brands and retailers could turn a blind eye to where their products come from are over. Amid heightened awareness of social and environmental abuses throughout the supply chain, governments around the world are moving quickly to hold businesses accountable for the actions of their suppliers. New supply chain due diligence laws are…
Private label’s market share keeps growing. Sales of private-label products climbed in 2022, averaging 11.3 percent growth, nearly twice what national brands saw, according to a report from the Private Label Manufacturers Association. Global inflation helped fuel that growth, spurring consumers to turn to store brand alternatives to save money. However, 73 percent of consumers say…
The current pressures on the supply chain are enormous. Three years after the global pandemic created a tsunami of backups and disruptions that are still reverberating through the supply chain today, brands and retailers are navigating a seemingly endless cavalcade of new threats ranging from inflationary pressures to trade wars to the Russian invasion of…
Germany’s new supply chain law is likely to be a precursor to even stronger regulations to come. In January, the country implemented one of the world’s most extensive supply chain laws, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), which requires large companies to monitor their supply chain for both human rights and environmental abuses.…
