Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and global sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future will formally introduce the Retail Horizons project at the RILA 2014 Retail Sustainability Conference this week in Minneapolis.
“I am proud that the RILA sustainability community, composed of about 50 of the leading retail brands, came together to learn from one another, identify opportunities to grow and innovate together, and promote sustainability,” said Adam Siegel, Vice President of Sustainability and Compliance at RILA. “The world is changing rapidly in ways that have already had profound implications on the retail industry. Technologies like the internet and mobile devices will enable retailers to exist everywhere; consumers expectations around transparency, service, speed, and experience will continue to expand; resources, such as water and raw materials, are likely to become scarcer and more expensive; and data will be ubiquitous. To adapt and grow, retailers can use sustainability as a framework for innovation.”
Sally Uren, Forum for the Future’s Chief Executive Officer, will launch the program, including four expertly crafted futures scenarios and a free toolkit, to an audience of 450 retail sustainability and environmental compliance professionals. The attendees will then have a chance to dive deep into the materials through three interactive two-hour work sessions on the Future of Stores, Future of Products and Value Chains, and Future of Consumers & Employees.
“Other industries have recognized the power of sustainability to drive the innovation needed if they are going to thrive into the long-term,” said Helen Clarkson, Director at Forum for the Future US. “The tools that we have developed through our work on Retail Horizons can help companies in the retail industry think through which challenges are most critical to them and how to tackle them to bring about the change we need for a sustainable future.”
More information on Retail Horizons (including the toolkit which became available for download Sept. 29) is available at www.rila.org/future.
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) is the trade association for the world’s largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs, and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities, and distribution centers domestically and abroad.
RILA’s Retail Sustainability Initiative (RSI) engages retail sustainability executives to share best practices, develop new processes, and communicate their efforts to the industry’s most crucial stakeholders. RILA uses its annual conference, benchmark studies, collaborative partnerships, and research on behalf of retail sustainability interests to help our members learn and develop their programs.
