Some 56% of people are reducing their efforts at ‘going green’, with one in two admitting that price is now significantly more important than health, sustainability and quality when it comes to the weekly food shop.

This news comes as COP27 takes place in Egypt, with more than 120 world leaders attending the summit.

COP27 president, Sameh Shoukry urged leaders to not let food and energy crises related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine get in the way of action on climate change.

While many shoppers want to enjoy foods that are better for them and the environment, they are making changes to the way they shop to save money, irrespective of the environmental impact.

Due to the rising cost of living, shoppers are being forced to turn to high emission foods, with a quarter (24%) now buying cheaper cuts of meat and lower-quality food. In fact, 41% plan to buy more frozen and non-organic meat, whilst almost a third of shoppers are switching to cheaper processed meat.

According to research from Meatless Farms, two in five shoppers also say organic and fair trade food are now bottom of their shopping lists, despite previously being ‘must-have’ items.

Morten Toft Bech, founder of Meatless Farms, said the cost-of-living crisis was “derailing sustainability efforts”.

“We need government action to drive forward a food system that actively encourages a reduction in the consumption of carbon emissions without pinching at purse strings,” he said.

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For 2022, Fyffes has chosen food banks and food charities as the recipients of its European and North American community investment donations. In addition to the regular donations of fresh fruits, Fyffes has donated €10,000 to FoodCloud in Ireland to ensure the organisation can maximise the use of their surplus food to support their 600 community partners.

In addition, Fyffes donated just over €5,000 each to various food charities, including Fareshare in the UK, a long-term partner of Fyffes which will be used to support their logistics and distribution.

These food donations help Fyffes achieve their sustainability commitments, which are to reduce food loss in all our own operations by 80% by 2030; and provide five millions healthy meals to vulnerable communities by 2025 by working with qualified partners.

Fyffes Sustainability Manager Stella Davis said “At Fyffes we are determined to reduce food loss and ensure the surplus reaches people who will benefit from our healthy produce.”

The post Going Bananas – Fyffes focus on fighting food loss first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

The highly anticipated store opening brings Lidl Northern Ireland back to the prime retail site after nine months of construction work to facilitate the creation of a stunning, larger new supermarket with glass-fronted glazing, landscaping, more car parking and improvements to its access from Shore Road.

The store was officially opened  by representatives from social enterprise and development trust, the Ashton Centre, and suicide prevention charity PIPs which both received cheque donations from Lidl Northern Ireland to celebrate the new store launch.

Occupying an entire site size of 10,250 sq. metres, including a retail sales floor of 1,420 sq. metres, the new store on the Shore Road has been built to Lidl Northern Ireland’s exacting standards and award-winning ‘concept’ design which prioritises sustainability and energy efficiency with a range of environmentally friendly features including an ISO 50001-certified Energy Management System, solar panels and 2 EV car charging stations in its 126-space car park.

The new state-of-the-art concept store represents an investment by Lidl Northern Ireland of £4 million into the local community. An extra 11 new local jobs have been added to the existing workforce of 22 to accommodate a much larger retail operation.

Lidl Shore Road Store Manager Ben Crawford said: “Since planning permission was granted in October last year, we’ve been working at pace to deliver a fresh new store for shoppers and also enhance the facilities and façade of the site.

“I’m delighted to finally open the doors to the new Lidl Shore Road store and welcome shoppers to enjoy an unrivalled in-store experience. We’re also pleased to welcome an additional 11 new members of staff to our existing team and grow our workforce locally.

“Lidl Northern Ireland has been a staple in the local community for nearly 20 years and Lidl’s investment into this site is yet another demonstration of how the company is committed to delivering for the local community.

“After a six-month store closure to facilitate construction work, it’s great to be fully open and to see so many shoppers out in force today to get a taste of the new Lidl Shore Road store and our extensive product range which is known for its great quality and low prices. We look forward to welcoming many more new and loyal customers through our doors over the summer and beyond.”

The store opening marks the completion of the third store delivered as part of a wider £32 million investment promise announced in 2021 to create five new stores within the Belfast City Region.

Last year, two new stores opened at Holywood Exchange and Hillview Retail Park, whilst two further stores are earmarked for completion at Castlereagh Road in east Belfast, along with the first ever Lidl store planned for south Belfast at Boucher Road, adjacent to the iconic National Football Stadium at Windsor Park.

The string of new Belfast stores is just part of the retailer’s plan to dramatically enhance its service provision across Northern Ireland, with ambitions to expand its 41-strong store network to 50 by 2030.

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The Church Street Pantry is to close its doors at a date to be confirmed, said owners David Walker and Nicola Graham as they thanked the public for their support.

The post Portadown refill store closing due to rising costs first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

The report out today from Barclays Corporate Banking – Reshaping retail: how ethics and sustainability are changing retail’s ecosystem – shows the pandemic and an increasing focus on Environment, Sustainability and Governance (ESG) are shifting business priorities. In a study of more than 300 retail decision makers, 50% in Northern Ireland say sustainability is more important now than it was two years ago and 50% say the same about ethical standards.

Additionally, 79% of retailers in Northern Ireland think that a long-term strategy to improve their ethical and sustainable credentials is more important than overcoming short-term supply chain disruption. On average, retail businesses with more than 10 staff are investing £504,000 per year to improve their own footprints.

However, the imperative to be more sustainable and ethical is now being felt financially across the supply chain. Nationally, the average is six contracts cancelled per retailer, with an average value of £306,000 per contract. Cumulatively, £7.1bn worth of contracts have been cancelled across the industry over the last 12 months.

Reasons for cancelling

The most common reasons for cancelling contracts with suppliers were:

1. Use of unsustainable materials (39%)
2. Unfair working hours (37%)
3. Lack of membership to trade body that monitors ethical and sustainable standards (32%)

The importance of monitoring standards throughout the supply chain is reflected in the £179m retailers invested last year in joining trade bodies that monitor supplier performance in ethics and sustainability. Over a quarter (28%) of retailers signed up to new bodies last year, spending an average of £34,500 each in doing so.

Karen Johnson, Head of Retail and Wholesale, Barclays Corporate Banking, said: “We are seeing a marked acceleration and shift among retailers in Northern Ireland towards prioritising sustainable and ethical standards in every part of their business operations. That is now starting to take its toll on retail suppliers with billions of pounds worth of contracts being cancelled every year.

“It’s being driven by increasing consumer demand and will rise even further as Gen Z enter the workplace and begin to earn their own money. Retailers must continue to monitor and improve their ethical and sustainability standards if they are to appeal strongly to younger demographics.”

Demand for credentials

The consumer demand for improved credentials is highlighted in Barclays’ research among 2,000 members of the public. While quality of product 83% and price 82% are shown to be the purchasing factors of most importance to consumers in Northern Ireland, ethical and sustainable credentials (60% and 58% respectively) are not far behind.

Younger consumers are leading the demand. In fact, two thirds of 16-24-year-olds would stop shopping with their favourite retailer due to ethical concerns and 68% of 25-34-year-olds would cut ties and shop elsewhere if their favourite retailer was found not to meet sustainability standards.

There is, however, an upside for retailers, in that consumers are prepared to pay a premium for these higher standards. On average, Northern Ireland shoppers will pay 3.38% more for an ethically-sound product and 3.49% more for sustainably-sourced goods.

Consumers do also feel there is room for further improvement with 72% wanting to see retailers make more ethical and sustainable upgrades in future.

The report is based on bespoke market research conducted by Censuswide among senior executives of 302 UK-based retail businesses and 2,002 UK consumers. The retailer sample covered businesses with 10 or more employees operating in a range of sub-sectors. The research was conducted between 30 November and 8 December 2021.

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