Improving customer and brand loyalty through CSR: A case of UK's retail sector - Dissertation Example

?The of Bedfordshire Business School Department of Accounting and Finance Advances in Accounting AAF005-3 Improving and brand loyalty through CSR: A case of UK’s retail sector By Anees Ahmed Word count: 5031 Deadline: Wednesday 28th March 2012 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Background to study 1.2 Significance of study 1.3 Aim and objectives 1.4 Research methodology Chapter 2: Literature review 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Definitions of CSR 2.3 CSR and marketing ethics 2.4 Relation between CSR and corporate strategy 2.5 CSR and impact on sustainable business practices 2.6 Effects of unethical business practices on society 2.7 CSR, brand reputation and sales 2.8 Factors influencing customer loyalty in the retail sector 2.9 Measuring customer loyalty 2.10 Customer’s perception of service quality 2.11 Customer loyalty and marketing strategies Chapter 3: Findings Chapter 4: Conclusion and recommendations References Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Background to the study Corporate social responsibility is a method by which many organizations take responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, communities, shareholders, employers etc. This practice of CSR is more debatable and critics argue that CSR distracts from the fundamental economic role of businesses (Sarbutts 2003; Malai 2011). Many companies target customer loyalty as a way of keeping the retail sector successful and this could be achieved by greater social responsibility. In the last few years, the importance of CSR has gathered momentum and has gradually attracted many consumers in UK and is continuously doing so. At this current moment in time there is very high competition and demand in the UK retail sector, especially between Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda (The Guardian, 2006). Along with price, quality and other factors, corporate social responsibility can play a very important role for these companies in increasing the customer loyalty. In this highly competitive world, consumers want to know what companies are doing to be socially responsible, by companies such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda etc. complying with customer wants and showing them what they have done for the environment they could potentially increase their brand loyalty. However, CSR is not without its share of criticism and scepticism. CSR sells, but with a negative connotation attached to it if going by the observation that although it is supposed to be a win-win for both the corporate and the society in general, corporates engage in this activity to ‘greenwash’ its ulterior motives of gaining more acceptance among its customers and the society in general in spite of all the negative impact its decision-making mechanism has on the environment. CSR is seen as an attempt to avoid regulations, gain legitimacy and access to decision makers and the markets, exploit a cheap vehicle for advertising (not surprising that many involved with this activity also sit in the PR and advertising departments), counter claims of pressure groups who point at the inefficient and disastrous impacts of the firms’ ineffective and harmful decision making and to shift the ground or blame on public functions to bear the brunt of all wrong decisions of the business (What’s wrong with corporate social responsibility?, 2012). Against this background of CSR, it becomes imperative that the real motivation behind a firm indulging in CSR and the need to study the same becomes important, which this study aims to do. 1.2 Significance of the study Malai (2011) researched on the ways CSR helps in increasing loyalty of consumers in Thailand and found that it really works. He worked on the importance of CSR and undertook primary research consisting of males and female consumers who gave their views. This is evidence which shows that CSR can help in increasing customer loyalty by being socially responsible? Matute-Vallejo, Bravo and Pina (2011) CSR affects on customer loyalty. CSR influences customer perceptions of price fairness, in such a way that customers perceive that socially oriented firms are also fairer in their pricing strategies. Thus this also contributes to the evidence that CSR increases loyalty of consumers. Kaskinen et al (2010) analysed CSR affects and found that it is not CSR that has huge implications on customer loyalty but it is the attitude of an organisation towards the environment, which helps in retaining/ increasing consumers. Thus Kaskinen et al (2010) is quite helpful in determining the role of CSR in increasing brand loyalty to the UK consumers. O’ Brien stated that times are changing and CSR is seen as a crucial tool to combat failing customer loyalty, so therefore companies nowadays understand the only way to increase customer loyalty is to be greater socially responsible. CSR is playing a key role in fostering customer loyalty and new account development (O’Brien, 2010). The research of O’Brien will help to determine the level of importance of CSR in retail industries. It was stated by Supply Management (2004) that Tesco lost its grace due to the weak rating of CSR. Thus, it is quite revealing that retail companies are dependent on the CSR for their elegance in the market. Asda has come with a green scheme to meet the legal rules and attract the consumers by their CSR (In-Store, 2006). Asda is concentrating more on waste management and b conducting this scheme they want to gain the consumers’ attention. As well as concentrating on waste management, they are also raising money for the poor in Africa. This campaign plus recycling, is helping them to meet their objective of increasing their consumers. Thus, this is further evidence which gives a clear indication that the role of CSR in retail companies is helping them to increase consumer loyalty. Pomering and Dolnicar (2009) conducted research on consumer awareness and found that many consumers are not aware of the social issues in which many companies are engaged in. This shows that consumers have less awareness of CSR being used in retail companies. This is further evidence to companies that it is imperative for them to advertise themselves being socially responsible in the business world to increase customer awareness/loyalty. Mandhachitara and Poolthong (2011) observed that there is a strong and positive relationship between a company’s CSR initiatives and activities and the attitudinal loyalty of customers. It is seen that customers’ perception of the quality of service provided by the company through its various CSR activities has a direct impact on the behavioural loyalty or the degree of repeat patronage of the customer towards the company. Both attitudinal and behavioural loyalties of the customers towards a brand are positively related to imply that perceived service quality directly impacts customer loyalty through CSR. Although this was in a study done in Bangkok’s retail banking sector, relevance to UK’s retail sector can be studied. This observation prompts the research direction to analyze what are the influencing factors on customer loyalty towards a brand and if CSR is the vehicle to communicate the service quality that a brand provides, does it really help in improving both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty? 1.3 Aim and Objectives Aim of this research is to understand how customer and brand loyalty can be improved through corporate social responsibility in UK’s retail sector. This aim can be achieved through addressing the two objectives: 1. What are the factors that influence customer loyalty in UK’s retail sector, and 2. How CSR is communicated to UK’s retail customers to improve brand loyalty? 1.4 Research methodology Qualitative research Qualitative analysis through secondary research will be conducted in this research to arrive at a realistic conclusion. Qualitative research is constructive and inductive in nature while also being descriptive and interpretive and helps in building in theory building within a single paradigm. This type of analysis also helps interpret evidence on a subject against a theoretical background (Spratt, Walker and Robinson, 2004, pp 7, 10-11). Methodology The study draws from the different published journal articles and websites among others to identify what factors influence customer loyalty towards a brand in UK’s retail sector while understanding how CSR is communicated within this sector by the different brands to improve customer loyalty. Possible relation between a brand’s efforts at communicating its CSR efforts and its influence on customer loyalty towards the brand will be explored to achieve the objectives of this research. Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction This chapter critically reviews the available literature in academic journals and other websites to clearly define CSR and study if there exists any relation between CSR and corporate strategies of a company. This is aimed to help understand the perspective of the company in driving its marketing efforts. Although, a company’s marketing strategies are aimed at improving sales and brand image, brand loyalty seems to be loosely tied to these strategies. UK’s retail sector will be studied in general to understand how the various marketing strategies are focused to gain customer and brand loyalty, and it will also be studied if customer loyalty is indeed related to improved sales and brand loyalty. Factors that marketers take into consideration to target their marketing activities to gain customer loyalty will be understood to further understand how the different players in UK’s retail market are able to successfully leverage their marketing tactics for improved sales or customer loyalty. The different loyalty programs that companies engage in and their impact on customer, communicating CSR initiatives to the customer to influence their loyalty, and impact of CSR on the sustainable business practices of the company to further aid in garnering customer loyalty will also be understood. Finally, the success with which the different players in the retail sector of UK have been able to implement CSR to attract customer loyalty will be evaluated through a critical interpretive analysis of the literature. 2.2 Definitions of CSR The European Competitiveness Report (2008) defines CSR as ““a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis” (p 106). The Economist Intelligence Unit (2005) defines CSR or Corporate Responsibility (CR) as “the integration of stakeholders’ social, environmental and other concerns into a company’s business operations”. This white paper also notes N.R. Murthy, the Chairman of Infosys as saying, “CR (CSR) is really about ensuring that the company can grow on a sustainable basis, while ensuring fairness to all stakeholders” (p 2), while noting that the different terms used in defining CSR, all point to the fundamental principle: “that a company is responsible for providing more benefits than just profits for shareholders. It has a role to play in treating its employees well, preserving the environment, developing a sound corporate governance, supporting philanthropy, fostering human rights, respecting cultural differences and helping to promote fair trade, among others. All are meant to have a positive impact on the communities, cultures, societies and environments in which companies operate. These efforts should also benefit a company’s various stakeholders, who comprise all or some of the following: customers, employees, executives, nonexecutive board members, investors, lenders, vendors, suppliers, governments, NGOs, local communities, environmentalists, charities, indigenous people, foundations, religious groups and cultural organisations” (pp 6,7). The World Bank in 2004 defined CSR as “the commitment of businesses to contribute to sustainable economic development working with employees, their families, the local community, and society at large to improve the quality of life, in ways that are good for business and good for development” (Mejri and De Wolf, 2010, p 4). 2.3 CSR and marketing ethics Buitink and Zandwijk (2011) observe that “CSR is still being seen as a marketing trick” (p 3). They further note that marketers are increasingly communicating CSR as being an integral part of their core business activities. This observation was made with reference to the food industry in UK, particularly the Dutch food industry (p 6). While businesses are adopting new approaches to marketing with not just a conventional marketing mix but a new strategy to include CSR, it is CSR within the context of a company’s marketing efforts that have received more attention due to the fact that CSR influences consumer behaviour. This also holds true in UK’s retail sector. CSR is found to be a factor that influences a buyer or consumer’s purchase intentions and buying behaviour among others (Mohd. Yusof, Musa and Rahman, 2011, p 347). Also, self-congruity is important in the wake of CSR’s importance in retail stores in the region as it can influence customer loyalty. Self-congruity is seen to be consumer’s self-image in respect to their needs and desires in terms of products or services and their psychological image of a retailer. This self-congruity or the congruence of self image and the product or brand image of the retailer determines to a large extent the brand loyalty. Self-congruity also includes customer satisfaction, patronage intention, customer’s retail store behaviour and customer loyalty to the brand. It is also found that self-congruity, brand image and CSR are related and determine customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Mohd. Yusof, Musa and Rahman, 2011, p 352). While brand image and CSR of a company can influence self-congruity to determine store loyalty, there are concerns in the ways companies are marketing their CSR efforts to influence customer loyalty through CSR. With justified and responsible marketing and advertising, and avoiding ‘green-washing’ by the companies, customer’s trust can be gained through a focus on green characteristics to influence consumer behaviour and loyalty (The European Competitiveness Report, 2008, p 111; Jahdi adn Acikdilli, 2009). It is revealed that there is a section of consumer in UK that is aware of the importance of green and ethical decisions in choosing and patronizing products, brands and companies. At least 5% of consumers in UK base their purchase decisions on the CSR activities of the company in terms of recyclability, ethical labelling, etc. there are standards of quality like ISO 14001 and others that direct retailers in several CSR adherence or compliance (Charter, Peattie, Ottman and Polonsky, 2002, p 7). 2.4 Relation between CSR and business strategy It is suggested that CSR should be defined in such a way as to include its emphasis on strategy as it is the business strategy of a firm that help integrate social and environmental concerns into the decision making process of the firm. Further, it is also observed that CSR along with sustainability are deeply integrated into the business strategies of the firms as CSR is found to impact a firm’s competitiveness in the market. A firm’s business strategy also determines how it can address the changing consumer and market needs for customer satisfaction and competitive positioning. Consumer perception of a firm or brand’s competitiveness and its inherent relation with CSR is primarily determined by the business strategy that the firm adopts in addition to its marketing strategies (The European Competitiveness Report, 2008, p 109, 111 and 119). Home Retail Group, UK’s largest home and general merchandise retailer has a three pronged approach to its business strategy to include CSR as an integral part of their overall strategy. The company’s business strategy is devised in a manner as to address the dynamic nature of retail market where increasing consumer awareness, policy changes and high competition characterize the market. The company achieves a competitive advantage by integrating CSR into their business strategy through innovative sales and marketing strategies that directly impact their brand image among the consumers (Corporate Responsibility, 2007, pp 5, 8-9). 2.5 CSR and impact on sustainable business practices UK retail economy is primarily food retailing with about ten companies including Tesco, J. Sainsbury, Asda and Wm. Morrison dominating the market with 83% market share. Wm. Morrison has about 63% market share of the ?106.5 billion market as of 2007 and which has 71.7% of food and alcoholic consumption and 28.3% being spent on alcoholic and tobacco products. The government’s sustainable development policies in this sector have led the major players to focus on their CSR to encourage sustainable consumption. However, it is found that apart from adhering to the policy of the government, most of the retailer’s marketing strategies still revolve around driving their consumers to consume more (Jones, Comfort and Hilllier, 2009, pp 816,821). This makes it important to review sustainable business practices and strategies to be coherent with the governmental policies and businesses’ ethical approach to marketing. While CSR aligned to effectively cater to the social and environmental concerns increases employee loyalty and improves brand image, it is said to encourage consumers to pay more for a product or service and the trust increases if the stakeholders (management and employees) are keen on walking the talk about CSR (The business case for sustainability, 2009, pp 5-7). Retailers are increasingly adopting different types of actions to communicate their CSR intentions and initiatives. They are communicating their societal commitment through non-financial or sustainable development (SD) and CSR (SD/CSR) reports. It is believed that CSR is a means to achieve SD and that the responsible behaviour by the retailers is the major driving force for consumer shopping. This is making retailers to consider CSR as the major element in their business strategies. A conceptual model proposed by Brashear et al. (2008) focuses on retailing business practices across the supply chain, buyer side and other stakeholders as it is often found that ineffective communication of CSR initiatives in the retail sector can also be counted as irresponsibility (Mejri and De Wolf, 2010, p 2-7). 2.6 Effects of unethical business practices on society Winder (2006) notes that large companies although have incorporated CSR into their marketing strategies, they are more often found to be involved in ‘green-washing’ to improve their brand’s competitiveness rather than actually addressing the concerns of the society and the environment. UNEP (2007) report notes that retailers are in a position to impact consumption and production life-cycle through effectively implementing CSR. They play the role of information providers and are at an advantage to use the modern communication tools like internet, in-store information kiosks, smart ads, personal shopping assistants, television monitors, personal club cards and mobile technologies apart from non-financial reports. As an interest in ethics is growing among retail consumers, so is the effectiveness of CSR. Retailers in UK’s cloth and textile industry have emphasized the need for adherence to ethical business practices by their suppliers as there are major occupational and safety concerns in many of the suppliers in this industry. However, the success of such CSR initiatives still depends on the implementation as they are often considered costly. Supplier ethical Data exchange (SEDEX) and other tools are available for retailers in UK’s clothing and textile industry but their usefulness again depends on the retailer’s commitment to implement CSR effectively by utilizing the available communication channels (Allwood, Laursen, De Rodriguez, et al, 2006). Waterman (2007, p 18) notes that consumers are increasingly becoming concerned about the ethics of UK supermarkets which is increasing pressure on the retailers to respond to consumer demands by aligning their business practices to CSR initiatives to provide more socially responsible operations. He also notes that retailers in UK have a better chance of improving business performance and gain competitive advantage if their CSR efforts are more than that of their competitors (p 24). Further, it is studied that supermarkets such as Sainsbury and Tesco consider CSR as simply a subdivision of marketing raising concerns in consumers about the commitment of such big retailers to effective CSR. Most of the CSR initiatives and actions by almost all of the big retailers are increasingly being considered as actions or behaviours aimed at improving business performance rather than for socially responsible and philanthropic concerns (p 25). 2.7 CSR, brand reputation and sales Waterman (2007, p 25) notes that there are both advantages and disadvantages to retailers who implement CSR. While CSR initiatives have the potential to give a competitive advantage to the retailer, it can also be seen to raise customer expectations which can increase the pressure on the retailer. Increased customer expectations from a particular brand open the brand to criticism to affect its sales and image. However, customer expectations can be managed efficiently to leverage the range of opportunities it opens up in terms of increased investments, increased purchases and higher scope for customer interaction (p 24). 57% of consumers in the UK are increasingly becoming aware of the contents of the food they buy as evident from recent empirical results (Pohle and Hittner, 2008, p 6). Gibbons (2011, p 13) notes that CSR is not restricted to individual firms but has become necessary in the wider corporate context as it is now seen as an essential practice to instil confidence in market based approaches of the businesses while creating brand image and restoring consumer faith in the economy post the economic crisis of 2008. Customer loyalty is seen to characterize the relationship between attitude towards a brand and repeat patronage. Repeat purchase does not translate to customer loyalty as purchasing intentions may change over time. Customer loyalty has to be earned through a focus on store attributes like availability, price, service quality, merchandise quality and value along with customer’s emotions or perceptions of the brand that can lead to customer satisfaction. Further, effective online sales channels that ensure customer privacy and confidentiality, access, etc. also have a positive impact on the brand while improving sales. Small retailers have had lower sales due to the presence of mega-retailers which can be attributed to large retailers investing in green and sustainable business practices (Martinuzzi, Kudlak, Faber and Wiman, 2011, pp 5-9). Rossat, Larsen, Ruta and Wawrzynosek (1999) note that loyal customers are more profitable as they tend to buy more and also interact more to give feedback which can be a quality check for the company (Figure 1): Figure 1: Customer loyalty components influencing profitability. Source: (Rossat, Larsen, Ruta and Wawrzynosek, 1999). 2.8 Customer loyalty and marketing strategies Retailers like Nectar in UK have successfully gained a loyal customer base of over 20 million. Companies target many loyalty programs to earn loyal customer base through multiple interactions that aim to establish a positive image of the brand’s product/ service to make them interact more in future to make a purchase. Such loyalty is built on customer satisfaction that is achieved through loyalty programs targeted at increasing customer knowledge, product and service differentiation, customer retention, and profitability. A research by Bain and company reveals that a 5% increase in customer retention through loyalty programs can result in 25% to 100% increase in profitability. Loyalty program costs can fall into program costs and system costs. In the retail sector, loyalty program can cost between 2% to 10% of the customer’s total expenditure (Ensuring Customer Loyalty: Designing Next-Generation Loyalty Program, 2006, pp 4-12). Although, the companies have to shell out this percentage towards program costs, they still make a profit of 98%-90% of the customer’s total expenditure, which is profitable and is the aim of loyalty programs. The success of such loyalty programs however depends on the strategies implemented by the firms. Kamaladevi (2009) notes that firms need to adopt a win-win strategy to create value exchange between retailers and customers in their many interactions. Further, to ensure that the customers are satisfied and loyal and also advocate the brand, individual customer needs have to be addressed through strategic management of customer experience. Brand, Price, Promotion, Supply Chain Management, Location, Advertising, Packaging & labelling, Service Mix, and Atmosphere are some of the factors that are identified to deliver superior customer experience to increase customer satisfaction, frequent purchasing, higher sales and increased profits for the retailers. 2.9 Factors influencing customer loyalty in the retail sector Customer satisfaction rates high on factors influencing customer loyalty in the retail sector in UK. High level of satisfaction translates to increased customer loyalty and depends on time and circumstances (Rossat, Larsen, Ruta and Wawrzynosek, 1999). The customer satisfaction process and the effect of satisfaction are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively: Figure 2: Customer satisfaction process. Source: (Rossat, Larsen, Ruta and Wawrzynosek, 1999). Figure 3: The effect of satisfaction. Source: (Rossat, Larsen, Ruta and Wawrzynosek, 1999). 2.10 Measuring success of customer loyalty programs Customers, employees and the investors form the three forces of the loyalty model that can be measured by the cash flow in a cause and effect concept (Rossat, Larsen, Ruta and Wawrzynosek, 1999). Dowling and Uncles (1997) note that customer loyalty programs may not benefit much exceptionally but may help in enhancing the overall value proposition of the product or service enough to motivate buyers to make the next purchase while supporting the company’s marketing strategies. Customer loyalty programs may just be beneficial in the short term to companies that already have a significant market share which explains why large retailers benefit from such loyalty programs (Figure 4): Figure 4: Benefits of loyalty programs for the different companies based on market share. Source: (Dowling and Uncles, 1997). 2.11 Customer’s perception of service quality The process for CSR is shown in Figure 5 and depicts its dynamic character. Consumers see that enhancements in quality control operations, increased investments, etc. can contribute to long term service quality improvements to the customers (Harpen et al, 2003) which can moderate the positive relationship between customer trust in the brand (for being able to provide quality service) and customer loyalty (Yuen, 2007). Customers perceive CSR that is directed externally through other means like charity as less beneficial to improving service quality by a company (Harpen et al, 2003). Figure 5: CSR process. Source: (Harpen et al, 2003). Senthilkumar, Ananth and Arulraj (2011) note that service quality is dependent on customer satisfaction which is influenced by CSR. Although this observation was made with reference to banking system in India, it can be considered to be generalized for UK’s retail sector as customer satisfaction is key to customer loyalty in the sector. Chapter 3: Findings Sustainable economic development is key to corporate social responsibility that helps improve quality of life of all the stakeholders of the society including businesses. CSR is considered an essential component of a company’s marketing strategy and the efforts by some of the leading retail chains in UK like Tesco, Wm Morrison, Asda, etc. in integrating CSR into their marketing strategies can be seen to direct future of retail marketing in the region. While retailers are increasingly adopting innovative marketing strategies in communicating their CSR activities through different channels like internet, TV monitors, in-store information kiosks, smart ads, personal shopping assistants, personal club cards, mobile technology and non-financial reports, it is the lack of effective integration of marketing strategies including CSR strategies into the overall business strategy that may affect the impact of marketing communication to highlight the retailer’s CSR compliance. Although, leading retailers may communicate CSR activities through the different channels, a lack of commitment to implement the same for effectiveness may come as an attempt to ‘green-wash’ the consumers to gain competitive advantage which can without doubt reverse the brand’s loyalty. Consumers are increasingly aware of the sustainable benefits of CSR and are basing their purchase decisions on a retailer’s commitment to implementing effective CSR for the benefit of the society and environment along with the consumers themselves and businesses. The more the retailers strive to integrate their CSR into their business strategies and business ethics, more is the consumer’s intention to buy that particular company’s product or service. As 71.7% of UK’s retail market is food and alcohol market, it becomes more important for retailers as well as consumers to be aware of sustainable business practices and production and sustainable consumption. It is observed that while most of the retailers that are involved in CSR, they primarily focus on profitability by encouraging consumption rather than advocating green consumption that emphasizes on quality purchase and consumption decisions to reduce the carbon footprint. However, consumers in the retail are more inclined to patronage brands that are increasingly adopting green and ethical business practices which requires that businesses consider CSR as an essential and core component in marketing and business strategy and not as a one off activity. CSR process is a continuous one with both businesses and the consumers having a role to play in determining the brand loyalty. While customer satisfaction emerges as the dominant factor in influencing customer loyalty, it cannot in itself guarantee success of CSR. Though CSR is seen as a vehicle to achieve customer loyalty in the ?106.5 billion retail market in the UK, there has been contradictory observations by different researchers (discussed in the paper) that propose different view points on the ability of CSR to attract customer loyalty in the sector. It can be seen that in spite of the contradictory evidence, CSR is still able to garner increased customer loyalty through increased customer satisfaction. While customer satisfaction itself can be improved through CSR targeted for sustainable development, it is the perception of service quality that can have an impact on the overall success of CSR. More than half of the retail customers in UK are aware of the contents of the food they purchase and customer trust in a brand in being able to provide relevant information on the company’s practices and their intention to buy the company’s products or services can improve the chances of CSR attracting more customer loyalty. Increased interaction through CSR can also translate to increased sales and profits for the company. However, the success of CSR for a retailer is dependent the company’s efforts to strategically manage its CSR to be able to create overall value proposition to influence customer satisfaction and in turn customer loyalty. Further, customer loyalty programs within the framework of CSR are also seen to yield 2% to 10% of profits of the total customer expenditure emphasizing the fact that customer experience management is necessary to derive the maximum benefits through CSR. However, CSR if implemented by retailers who already enjoy a considerable share in the market can benefit from such activities due to the inherent dynamic nature of the CSR process where sustainable production and sustainable consumerism, both influence and determine each other’s success in the highly competitive retail market. It pays to remember that benefits from implementing CSR in the retail sector in UK can be short term but they can be used or injected into the CSR process for sustainable profits for all. Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendations Since customer satisfaction can be driven through a range of CSR activities like customer loyalty programs, service quality improvement, etc. it is the company’s internal focus on improving sustainable business practices that can give more success of its CSR efforts as it helps to cut costs and improve service quality that can cater to individual needs of the customer. Also, since all brands cannot afford to invest in CSR at the rate that it demands, and since not all CSR efforts gain consumer trust through transparency and commitment, CSR is best implemented in the retail sector in UK by large retailers who have the circumstances to implement. Although CSR in UK’s retail sector is said to be beneficial in the short term, retailers are focusing on long term benefits by leveraging the process life-cycle through continuous investment. 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