20,000 farmers in M&S sustainability study

MARKS & Spencer is pushing forward with its ‘Plan A’ focus on sustainability, and believes the recession has done little to dent consumer interest in the topic.

Speaking at a LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) conference, Mike Barry, the retailer’s head of sustainable business, said research showed fewer consumers were taking the “what’s the point” view of sustainability.

In the last year, its research showed a fall of 3 per cent in this view from both consumers in general, and M&S customers.

“Consumers are increasingly interested in this, but not in a linear way – it’s not simple. A sustainable business is not what we have now. Can we keep making, selling and throwing away stuff? Probably not – and it will change a lot in the next 10-15 years.”

Mr Barry said instigating the retailer’s Plan A was complex. As a measure of this, he said he was tackling 100 different sustainability topics in M&S, across 35,000 product lines, involving 2,000 factories, 20,000 farmers and 2 million workers. “We’re engaging 75,000 employees as well as 21 million customers.

We have decided to look at everything in our business, rather than just cherry-picking things. I would say we are at base camp right now and are trying to climb Everest.

“Anyone who thinks they are any further up is deluded, and there will only be some businesses which make it to the top,” he said.

18 December 2009