Ethical consumerism in the food and drink industry is on the verge of growing in the UK. Spending on ethical products has reached £122B, according to the Co-op’s 2021 Ethical Consumerism Report. Another study by Deloitte detailed that 34% of consumers are choosing brands that have environmentally sustainable practices from the past year to March 2021. Consumers seem to be the driving force behind increased ethical consumerism, and the government is expanding it through these measures: Gaining Accreditation: The Welsh government now encourages suppliers to gain accreditation certificates to ensure quality. Retailers are also making efforts to comply with the rules. Sustainability Cluster: The government has formulated nine sustainability clusters and is using the triple helix approach (combining government, industry and academia) to address the industry’s problems. To read more, visit TheGrocer 

Social commerce firms Little Red Book, Douyin, Bilibili have created their e-commerce platforms. Retailers from all around the globe need to take notes and learn: 1, Douyin, a social commerce platform having 600M users, attracts younger customers. The platform doesn’t let any outside links, drives traffic from its parent firm’s apps and has attracted international brands. 2, Bilibili, a Chinese video platform, has linked its consumers to numerous other brands on its app. Bilibili also lets partner firms showcase video ads and campaign hashtags, promotional materials and even links to the external e-commerce platform. 3, Similarly, Little Red Book partners with other brands to sell directly via its e-commerce livestreaming. Its unique feature attracts consumers to visit Little Red Book for product reviews that grow its sales. The only drawback of this model is that brands need to invest consistently to see results. Additionally, the platform doesn’t attract organic traffic. To read more, visit SmartBrief 

Lidl, a German supermarket chain, has opened three retail outlets in Estonia. The supermarket chain has now covered all the Baltic States after the recent launch. Lidl has a store in the capital city Tallinn and three other Estonian cities. The newly-launched stores received an overwhelming response from shoppers. Schwarz Group, the owner of the chain, injected 80M euros into the launch and will have above 1,000 new job openings in the country with a population of 1.2 million consumers. Aldi, Lidl’s active competitor, is yet to launch a store in the country. To read more, visit RetailDetail