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The key challenge? Bridging the gap between consumers鈥� good intentions and their purchasing behavior. By integrating sustainability into the everyday shopping experience, brands can influence buying decisions and accelerate both their sustainability goals and profitability.

In today鈥檚 economic climate, practical concerns like price and convenience often overshadow sustainability during the shopper journey鈥攄espite widespread agreement on its importance. So how can companies continue to advance their sustainability agenda, and achieve growth and profitability goals, when many consumers are unwilling or unable to pay a premium for it?

The solution isn鈥檛 to convince everyday shoppers to shift left, but to make sustainability a central part of the everyday shopping experience for the 鈥渕ainstream middle鈥�.

This creates an action-intention gap, wherein mainstream middle shoppers would like to buy sustainable products more often, but their purchases are more influenced by other factors, like cost. So how do brands and retailers move that agenda forward?

Three ways to jumpstart sustainability goals in retail

1. Encourage sustainable shopping and healthy choices through education and guidance

For the average consumer, sustainability is a complex and potentially confusing topic.

Our 2025 consumer data revealed that almost two-thirds of shoppers (63%) report insufficient information to verify sustainability claims, while 54% say they do not trust those claims.

The good news is that consumers want more guidance and input from retailers throughout the shopper journey to help them make more informed choices. Brands and retailers have the opportunity to stand out to consumers by improving transparency around sustainability claims, such as through standardized certifications, easy-to-understand labels, or transparent packaging.

For example, front-of-pack nutritional labeling systems鈥攕uch as Nutri-Score (used in several European countries), the Traffic Light system in the UK, and the Keyhole label in Sweden鈥攁re helping consumers make healthier food choices by leveraging standardized algorithms to assess both positive and negative aspects of a product鈥檚 nutritional content. A similar approach could be applied to sustainability labeling, simplifying complex claims and supporting consumers in making more informed, responsible decisions at a glance.

Core retail mechanics can also play a crucial role in making sustainable and healthy choices more accessible to consumers. Tactics like strategic product placement, targeted promotions, educational displays, and local produce partnerships can help guide shoppers toward better choices without requiring them to go out of their way.

By making sustainable and healthy choices clearer and more accessible, it becomes a more justifiable choice, especially among price-conscious consumers.

2. Leverage AI and technology: AI in sustainability to engage consumers

Digital technology has an important role to play in making sustainability more understandable, accessible and tangible to consumers. This is definitely the case for Gen Z, who have grown up with digital, and who are now gaining more mainstream spending power.

For example, 2D barcodes on products can help brands share sustainability details beyond what fits on labels or packaging. By simply scanning a code with their phone, shoppers can “talk” to a product鈥攅nabling them to learn about its origins, ingredients, and certifications, or even engaging in a two-way dialogue with a brand.

L鈥橭r茅al is one notable trailblazer on this front. The brand has integrated QR codes on its skincare and cosmetic products, directing consumers to an AI-powered chatbot that offers detailed ingredient information, usage guidance, and personalized skincare routines tailored to each user鈥檚 skin type and concerns.

Our research showed strong demand among consumers to be able to connect with brands in this way. Overall, 65% of consumers want 鈥渞apid verbal responses from AI chatbots.鈥� This highlights a prime opportunity for companies to embed sustainability messaging into natural language interactions, such as via AI assistants, voice search, or digital assistants.

On the supply chain side, increasing transparency, especially in light of upcoming regulations in various regions, presents a major opportunity for retailers. By leveraging technologies such as electronic labeling and digital product passports, they can offer consumers clear visibility into every stage of a product鈥檚 journey, from how it was grown or sourced to how it should be responsibly disposed of.

3. Incentivize behavior change: Smart grocery shopping and eco-friendly packaging

Brands and retailers can encourage more sustainable shopping habits by making them more affordable, accessible, convenient, and rewarding.

For example, smart dynamic pricing that encourages and incentivize consumers to purchase food before it goes to waste not only benefits shoppers鈥攊t also boosts retailer margins and advances sustainability goals.

Minimizing food waste is an issue that is being actively embraced by many retailers and grocers around the world precisely because of its double benefit for the consumer and the business. For example, Carrefour has extended its collaboration with Wasteless in Argentina, rolling out to enable dynamic discounting of perishable products. This collaboration aims to drastically reduce food waste, while lowering markdown costs by 54%. At the same time, it also offers consumers fresh products at low prices.

Reducing food waste can also be an in-home activity. In the Netherlands, Albert Heijn is piloting a 鈥溾�� feature within their mobile app. The 鈥渓eftover scanner鈥� allows consumers to snap a photo of their refrigerator contents and receive recipe suggestions based on what they already have. The retailer also launched its app, to help customers make smart choices and adopt healthy behaviors. The app provides personalized advice, inspiration, and wellness challenges across key areas like nutrition, exercise, relaxation, and sleep.

Leveraging sustainability as a revenue driver

For retailers and brands, sustainability isn鈥檛 just an exercise in altruism. Setting aside the fact that it is a real imperative to our collective future and the overall health of people and planet, companies should also recognize that sustainability can be a top-line growth driver.

In fact, found that sustainable products are not only capturing a larger market share but also growing at a faster rate compared to their non-sustainable counterparts. Despite high inflation, sustainable products held 18.5% of the market in 2024, up 1.2 percentage points from 2023. Products with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) claims saw a 5-year CAGR of 9.9%, outperforming conventional products.

Overall, sustainability-marketed products accounted for about one-third of all CPG growth, despite representing less than 20% of the market share, showcasing a significant opportunity for brands in a challenging economic climate.

The key to scalable sustainability: Engaging the mainstream majority

The path to a more sustainable future isn鈥檛 about changing people鈥檚 beliefs and priorities鈥攊t鈥檚 about removing barriers to make responsible choices the default option for everyone. By making sustainability more accessible, convenient, affordable, and seamlessly integrated into daily life, brands and retailers can influence the behavior of everyday consumers鈥攁nd earn their loyalty in return.

And that鈥檚 how sustainability will become a mainstream practice.

For more information about how 乌鸦传媒 can help your organization accelerate sustainability goals and programs, please contact our authors and visit our Connected Society.