How to Build Purpose into a Retailer of Brand's Brand Strategy

This PSFK Guide is a brand purpose report for retailers and brands to engage audiences, drive revenues and deliver social impact through better processes and practices.

Executive Summary

Consumers are increasingly aligning their progressive values with their purchasing decisions, driving companies to rethink their operations and retail and marketing efforts. Top of mind for shoppers are how organizations are driving meaningful change through sustainability initiatives and DEI efforts. It’s now critical that businesses think beyond messaging about social impact as their customers are ready to hold them accountable for lack of follow through or by running campaigns that lack authenticity and transparency.

Report Overview

In this brand purpose report, discover how leading retailers and brands are innovating through better processes and practices. Learn how intrinsic motivation to prioritize social, cultural, and environmental responsibility, enables businesses to not only navigate shifting consumer expectations and marketplace change, but lead the way with responsibility and empathy, and understand how profit and purpose can be intertwined to drive growth. 

What You’ll Learn In This Report

• Across the commerce landscape, how businesses are reexamining their end-to-end offering from sourcing and product design to internal representation and logistics to embed measurable social impact at every stage.
• How companies are also developing new business models and platforms to empower customers and partners to get involved and drive collective action.
• Why these business purpose initiatives must now be viewed as a true differentiator in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
• When effectively implemented, how these efforts can enable operational efficiencies and open the door to new revenue streams, creating value for consumers, companies and their workforce, and the planet.

What’s In This Report?

In this brand purpose guide, discover how leading retailers and brands are innovating through better processes and practices. Learn how intrinsic motivation to prioritize social, cultural, and environmental responsibility, enables businesses to not only navigate shifting consumer expectations and marketplace change, but lead the way with responsibility and empathy, and understand how profit and purpose can be intertwined to drive growth. 

This report provides:

• 5 brand purpose strategies for leveraging better sustainability processes and practices to connect with consumers
• 18 best-in-class examples of how brands and retailers are using sustainable business practices to align with the desires and expectations of their consumers
  
• Consumer insights into changing behaviors and expectations of the consumer mindset around sustainability
• Case studies from Walmart, Instacart, Stripe and more

Who Prepared This Report?

This paper was developed by the same PSFK research department that since 2004 has provided trends-led innovation consulting advice to Apple, BMW, Facebook/Meta, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Volkswagen.