The cost-of-living and wider economic situation continues to make climate change-tackling decisions ever more challenging; and for consumers, the challenge is to decide what changes they can afford to make themselves. As such, retailers have a role to play in helping customers by offering not only innovative and convenient solutions to living more sustainably, but also solutions that are affordable.
As the UK’s leading home improvement retailer, we believe B&Q has a responsibility to reduce the impact we have on the environment, and to help lead the way in making it easier for UK households to live in more sustainable homes. To help do this, our aim is to offer more products, services and advice so that our customers can make more sustainable choices.
It is no surprise that sustainability is a priority for consumers, but we’d be wrong to think that the UK has had an environmental epiphany. B&Q’s 2022 Slice of Home Life Report found that whilst 70% of consumers feel sustainability is important, only 1 in 10 feel confident to make their homes more sustainable. The report found that consumers have become accidentally sustainable; driven by the need to balance household finances, many make conscious decisions to cut costs, rather than focusing on environmental impact. For example, whilst insulating homes is a more sustainable choice, the reality is that consumers choose to invest for economic gain, rather than environmental benefit.
We’re also seeing an increase in the Say-Do gap; the gap between what people say they are willing to do to tackle climate change and what they are realistically doing. We live in a fast-paced world where cost and convenience often drive consumer behaviour. Individuals feel busier, more pressured and have less free time than ever before; according to our research, more than 1 in 5 have unfinished DIY projects and 82% are yet to start a project that needs doing. In order to reduce the Say-Do gap, we need to make the more sustainable options the most attractive options. This means that we make them affordable and easily accessible, and provide relevant information so that customers are further encouraged by better understanding the long term value of their more sustainable purchase.
At B&Q, we put our responsibility to customers, communities and colleagues at the forefront of what we do, and are constantly working to reduce the impact of our products, services, and operations on the planet. We’re committed to being more responsible, and through our Build a Life Project will achieve that by acting and reporting with transparency on the progress we are making against our targets. Our Build a Life Project builds on our long heritage spanning more than 30 years – from introducing our first peat-free compost in 1991, through to banning disposable barbecues to reduce wildfires in 2022. It includes initiatives like our Community Re-Use Programme, where we donate our surplus products and display items to local community organisations in need, to help create a more sustainable world.
Our priority has always been to offer more sustainable products and to actively inform customers of their benefits to encourage their purchase, as seen through the launch of our new gardening range – MamaTerra by Verve – made with ingredients sourced from nature.
We know that 88% of our customers try to avoid chemicals when gardening, and the new Mama Terra range introduces a complete ecosystem of products made without synthetic chemicals, to future proof the health of gardens across the country. MamaTerra also enables a different way of gardening, the no-dig gardening method. As such, we are bringing regenerative agricultural practices to the nation’s homes, helping customers to choose more sustainable gardening methods and to encourage nature into their gardens. MamaTerra demonstrates that, at B&Q, we are continually innovating to provide products which inspire our customers to choose more sustainable living, and for outdoor products this means putting biodiversity at the heart of our gardens by encouraging nature in the garden and beyond.
Retailers have a unique opportunity to enable consumer behaviour and a responsibility to lead positive change. Beyond striving to operate with integrity and reducing the impact of our own operations, it is also imperative that we inspire and empower our vendors and customers to make sustainable choices. By offering affordable, sustainable, and innovative products, alongside services and advice – retailers can help customers contribute to tackling climate change themselves, whether by choice or accidentally.
Susie Spence, Director of Sustainability, Quality and Vendor Development at B&Q
