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Take me to PSFK iQThis PSFK guide is a store experience playbook on DEI strategies for retailers and brands to help BIPOC customers feel seen, heard and represented in the retail experience, winning increased loyalty and share of spend along the way.
We live and operate within an imperfect world. Top retailers and brands can find success by creating opportunities for the disadvantaged with thoughtfully designed products, experiences, and inclusive marketing; and by leveraging operational strengths and local partnerships to address inequalities with initiatives for communal good. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are guiding forces in consumers’ lives today, informing their preferred brands and products and increasingly deciding their purchase patterns and loyalty. This provides new opportunities for retailers to expand in innovative and impactful ways, showing consumer audiences that they are being seen, heard, and represented; and taking it upon themselves to bridge the gap between what is and what could be.
Consumers’ expectations around diversity, equity, inclusivity and engagement span the entire retail experience. In this report on DEI in business, PSFK iQ researchers have studied trends and emerging ideas to identify six strategies for business leaders to consider as they uplift, transact and engage with diverse, multifaceted, and often underserved consumer communities.
Within this inclusive business report, PSFK iQ researchers present the ways leading retailers and brands are making their BIPOC customers feel seen, heard and represented across all stages of the retail experience, winning increased loyalty, ensuring cultural diversity and improving share of spend along the way.
This report explains why inclusion matters and covers:
This report on DEI in business 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
No longer a cultural buzzword, genderless products, branding, and marketing is now a mainstream expectation. As emerging consumer generations including Alpha and beyond continue to reframe and advance gender norms, brands and retailers are de-gendering product design across retail and fashion as well as wellness, personal care and more.
Representative AdvisoryTo authentically, honestly and impactfully connect with their consumers and communities, retailers are actively ensuring that a diverse range of voices are being heard, from the top down, and at every stage of product, marketing and community development. By creating advisory councils, boards and positions within their own organizations or partnering with those outside of it, retailers are not only signaling to their consumers that their experience is valued, but also taking measured steps to...
Retail As A Community ResourceBeyond offering products, there is a need across communities for retailers and brands to provide services at a local level that address personal consumer growth as well as systemic change. As they look to strengthen community ties and support their consumers, rather than starting at square one, retailers and brands are building greater trust and buy-in by partnering with the local leaders and established organizations that are already providing these services. Through these partnerships, retailers...
Universal DesignEvery consumer wants to feel represented by their favorite brand. Leading retailers are recognizing that for consumers with disabilities there is a barrier to participation, as their physical and unseen needs are not being met by current design standards. To change this, retailers and brands are partnering with experts and consumers across the disabled community to address this need, placing adaptivity at the center of the design process. Looking to sold-out adaptable product drops, popular...
The video live streaming service Twitch doesn’t just serve communities, it works as one too by building strong and diverse employee “guilds” where every team member has a voice.
CVS Makes Health Services Accessible For Underserved CommunitiesCVS Health has invested nearly $200 million in affordable housing properties and programs across the country over the past year as part of its mission to advance health equity in underserved communities.
Trader Joe’s and MagnusCards Create Accessible Shopping ExperiencesIn an effort to bring more inclusivity into the grocery shopping experience, Trader Joe’s is collaborating with MagnusMode, a free app dedicated to making the world a more accessible place for people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities.