Shoppers drowning in green labels

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

TS Eliot’s words are sharply relevant in this age of endless ecolabels and “product advisories.” And they might just strike a chord with shoppers. These days, everything from a packet of tea to a toilet roll carries a whole litany of assurances about provenance, impact, recyclability and so on. And there could soon be more, if carbon and water labelling follow.

But, says Jack Cunningham, Head of Climate Change and Environment at Sainsbury’s, there is evidence that customers are becoming weary of it all.

“It’s almost impossible to communicate the ’embedded carbon impact’ of products to a customer. They might be aware of what carbon is, in the global sense, but understanding the impact of a particular product is another matter. The same goes for water. They do worry about animal welfare; they like to know where our meat comes from, how the animals have been treated, and so on. But regardless of the issue, they feel that they’re getting too much information. What they really want is to come into the store and buy some stuff in a hassle-free way, knowing that the brand is taking care of all these issues for them.”

When it comes to building that sort of confidence, food labelling can be counterproductive, Cunningham argues. Besides the logistics and cost involved in collating the data, labels put the ball firmly back in the customer’s court. And what’s worse — they get in the way of good, straightforward dialogue between the shopper and their store:

“It’s all very well printing figures on packaging, but in fact, it’s our colleagues in store who can help consumers find what they came for. The great thing would be if every store colleague could articulate with confidence what we know about fish, say, or the impact of a product on communities.”

But point of sale is just one piece of the jigsaw, says Cunningham.

“If we want to make informed decisions for our customers, we need to work with suppliers, so that we can influence the
product before it lands on our shelves.”

And the same rules regarding open conversation apply.

“The most important thing for us is making sure that the supplier doesn’t go bust, environmentally or economically. So we don’t go to our suppliers saying, ‘We want our beef low carbon and for a low price: what can you do?’ We find we can have a much more mature conversation on costs if we develop a close working relationship with them — helping
them save money by becoming more efficient, for example.”

It’s a lighter touch, but a more intelligent and human one than forcing suppliers to rise to regulations or targets.

“Regulations stymie innovation,” says Cunningham. Which is why he’s looking for the same sort of openness and display
of trust from government.

“The trend is for government to look to people like Sainsbury’s to help deliver on carbon reduction targets. But what I don’t want to see at this stage is government forcing suppliers to do x and y without first giving retailers the opportunity to find solutions ourselves. What will work for one farmer in Devon might not work for another in Scotland. There are all sorts of variables: you can’t take a cookie cutter approach.”

Of course, Cunningham recognises, there are business opportunities for retailers who go beyond passing information back and forth from supplier to consumer, and get actively involved in creating change. Take energy. Sainsbury’s is working with the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and a large utility company to set up a one-stop shop, where people can go for advice on efficiency in the home, or help installing solar panels on their roof.

“At the moment, customers come to us because they trust the brand; they know what it stands for. They don’t necessarily think of it as somewhere they can solve a problem like their energy bill. But I think that, in the future,
they will.”

Editor’s note: This was a guest article by Anna Simpson that originally appeared in Green Futures. Green Futures is published by Forum for the Future and is the leading magazine on environmental solutions and sustainable futures. Its aim is to demonstrate that a sustainable future is both practical and desirable — and can be profitable, too.