Further proof sustainability matters to Walmart

Sustainability matters to Walmart – so much so that they are giving the best-of-the-best their own online store. Does it matter to their customers?

Yesterday, Walmart announced the launch of its Sustainability Leaders Shop, a new online shop reserved for those manufacturers that rank as best-in-class in sustainability by The Sustainability Consortium (TSC). Walmart has long used the TSC Sustainability Index, which measures a suppliers approach to managing its social and environmental impact on the full lifecycle of its products, for internal decisions. This announcement, however, represents the first time that customers can benefit from the Walmart Sustainability Index and use it as a tool to make buying decisions.

This is a great first step to making sustainability rankings transparent and a significant part of consumer behavior. It will be very interesting to see how the online store performs and gauge how Walmart’s customer base values sustainability over rollback prices.