According to a 2020 IBM report in association with the USA’s National Retail Federation, 60% of consumers surveyed were willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact. For retailers, this means that sustainability is no longer simply a ‘nice-to-have’; it is now a ‘must-have’. To get there, it is important for retailers to align their businesses around sustainable products, solutions, services and partners.

For nearly six decades, Sensormatic Solutions has prioritised sustainability from the inside out. In fact, Responsible Retail is at the heart of everything we do. Our unmatched experience and global presence means that we are ready to help your retail business meet its sustainability objectives, from supply chain to point of sale. Don’t just take our word for it…

We were recently honoured for our commitment to sustainable practices and programmes. Business Intelligence Group named the organisation's Visual Source Tagging Recirculation programme a Sustainability Service of the Year, while Supply & Demand Chain Executive (SDCE) recognised the company with a Green Supply Chain Award. These honours demonstrate our passion for responsible retail and our dedication to building a smart, healthy and sustainable future.

Launched in 2010, the Visual Source Tagging Recirculation programme creates a scalable framework allowing retailers to smoothly return used tags for cleaning, sorting and reuse. We established proper refurbishment protocols and optimised shipping routes to centralise transportation, tagging and return processes in order to reduce carbon emissions. Over the last year, the Visual Source Tagging Recirculation programme prevented 10.78 million kg (23.76 million lb) of plastic from entering landfill and saved over 285,000 megawatt-hours of electricity. To put that into perspective:

• 10.78 million kg of plastic = approximately the weight of 135 medium-sized commercial aeroplanes with passengers and fuel
• 285,000 megawatt-hours of electricity = enough to power 26,500 American homes for a year

The Visual Source Tagging Recirculation programme also helps retailers to combat another common challenge they have faced over the last year – labour shortages. Hard tags are applied at the manufacturing premises, so retailers do not need to allocate labour and time for this process on-site.

In addition to labour savings, source tagging can help retailers:

• Increase revenue: merchandise arrives tagged and ready for sale
• Improve customer experience: assistants spend more time on sales and customer service-related activities and less on tagging
• Decreased shrink: merchandise is protected at the point of manufacture, throughout the supply chain and in the store

The future of retail depends on sustainable products, solutions and services driven by best-in-class innovation. At Sensormatic Solutions, we continuously strive to evolve and adapt to meet any retail challenge while staying focused on contributing to a healthy planet.

For more information on Sensormatic Solutions’ sustainability efforts, please click here: www.sensormatic.com/en_uk/who-we-are/sustainability