Vendor Assessment: Sustainability Services for Retailers

This IDC Retail Insights report analyzes large professional service firms and the strategy-level sustainability services they provide to retailers. Our research finds that sustainability services span a wide range of options, from designing sustainability strategies, conducting consumer behavior studies, identifying business process requirements, and performing a risk and opportunity assessment to more mature offerings that focus on cradle-to-cradle sourcing strategy development. A general trend is the growing awareness of sustainability's impact on a company's reputation and brand.

Leslie Hand, research director, IDC Retail Insights, commented, "There is significant momentum among leading retailers to differentiate based on their sustainability strategies. Service offerings will continue to evolve as retailer customers and vendors develop experience in sustainability and create new methodologies and best practices to reflect the impact that sustainability services are having on retail practices."