Emcee Singapore: In the podcast episode “Making A Sustainable Impact” on Behind The Figures, hosted by Charmaine, she interviewed experts from innovative businesses in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. They  discussed how consumers in APAC are choosing to shop with brands that align with their social and environmental values.

The speakers were Belinda Judd, Director of Group Financial Control, Koala, Claudia de Pieri Carrazza, Impact Manager, Ayden, Scott Meneilly, former CEO, Sushi Sushi and Retail Zoo and Shalini Samuel, Director of Certification and Standards Learning, B Lab.

The participants agreed that Consumers in APAC are choosing to shop with brands that align with their values, as they grow more conscious of the social and environmental impact of their lifestyle choices. The data supports this – 60% of consumers in the region will not buy from businesses with known ethical issues in their supply chain.

Besides, 57% of APAC consumers prefer to buy from retailers who support social and environmental causes. How can businesses leverage these changing consumer mindsets to create new growth opportunities?

Charmaine opened the discussion stating that ESG, that is environment, social, and governance standards, needs to be firmly integrated into a merchant’s strategy to win and maintain the loyalty of customers and grow a business. 

Shalini added that by “linking ESG commitments to measurable standards and metrics, a company really builds credibility and trust among its stakeholders.”

Charmaine highlighted that although “There are strong commercial benefits for brands who take a more sustainable approach to their operations, less than 30% of APAC brands visibly support specific social or environmental causes.”

Belinda pointed out that “one thing that I do love about Koala is that sustainability and ESG have been part of Koala since day one. So we have built this into our business model, our partnerships with organizations such as WWF, and our commitment to people, planet, and our products, as part of how we do business.”

To illustrate her point, Belinda said. “We’ve got a local design team that has ESG at the forefront of what they do. So we are working with organizations such as FSC to find sustainable timber for our products. We’ve just released a rug that’s made out of reclaimed plastic bottles. We are looking at alternative fabrics, we’ve released a cork sofa previously. We’re looking at different alternatives too, that are much more sustainable. We are working towards a goal of circularity with our products.” 

On Ayden’s philosophy of making an impact, Claudia said, “We look at how we can leverage our technology to help our customers with their own CSR strategies. We do this through our Impact product, which enables our customers to add in a donation or a contribution to a climate action project into their checkout process.”

Scott commented, “People in the corporate world understand it’s not just about making money, it’s about doing the right thing. So your brands are conscious about: you want to create an ecosystem that is all driving forward based on the shared beliefs and the common good of improving the planet.”

To find out more about the trends shaping the retail, restaurant, and hospitality sectors in APAC, check out our Retail Reports here.

Tune in to S2 of Ayden podcast, Behind the Figures, today: Ayden podcast Ep 2