According to a new survey conducted by Novus on behalf of Svea Bank, a majority of Swedish companies are working on sustainability issues.
In this report, we analyze how Swedish companies work with sustainability today, what drives development and what the investments look like going forward. We also highlight how investments are distributed and what that means for companies' opportunities to strengthen their business, says Caroline Collin, Sustainability Manager at Svea Bank.
Within the trade sector, the proportion is highest, with 88 percent stating that they have active sustainability work. At the same time, many companies primarily focus on measures that reduce costs, such as reduced material consumption and recycling. Only four percent of companies plan to invest in circular business models, such as rental or reuse, in the next twelve months.
For actors in the retail and e-commerce sectors, there are clear links between circularity and business development. Karin Rehnberg, CEO and co-founder of Revive Retail, notes that second-hand can be increasingly integrated as part of the ordinary customer journey. One example mentioned is to state a product's resale value already at the time of purchase.
If the customer sees that the more expensive product holds its value better, it becomes easier to justify the purchase. We also see that conversion increases when the resale value is displayed directly on the product page, says Karin Rehnberg.
Circular services are also said to create conditions for customer loyalty. Customers can be contacted some time after the purchase with a request to sell the product back through the brand.
When customers are given the choice between money back or a gift card, about 70 percent choose the gift card, says Karin Rehnberg.
When implementing new business models, technology often constitutes a barrier for companies, as internal development teams may have limited resources. In addition to the purchasing experience, return management is identified as a future area of development for e-commerce. One solution highlighted is to allow goods to flow in circular flows directly between consumers, instead of returned products being sent back to a central warehouse. This approach reduces the number of transports and allows the customer to avoid return fees.