Sustainable Business Practices in Indian Retail: Adoption, Consumer Response, and Implementation Barriers

The paper reviews the implementation of sustainable business practices in the Indian retail industry by use of a mixed method research involving 30 retailers and 60 consumers. The analysis indicates the awareness of the retailers, adoption based on practice, consumer response, and implementation barriers. Findings indicate that there is a fairly good awareness, with 86.7% of retailers indicating high or moderate knowledge of sustainability concepts. Adoption is focused on observable and controllable activities which include reusable carry options, energy saving lights and environmentally friendly packaging, but the local sourcing and separation of waste is not highly advanced. The response of consumers is positive but contingent; where price remains moderating sustainable consumer purchases. The primary obstacles to more intense integration become financial limitations, sensitivity of consumers to price, and lack of technical knowledge. The research finds that transition towards sustainable retailing is already taking place in India, and the depth of operations is unequal. The future will hinge on the ability of the implementation to be cost-comprehensible, more robust measurement structures and closer alignment of intent and consumer demand among the managers.