IADS Exclusive: The CEO of Green Pea on challenging the retail business model

The IADS invited Green Pea to address member CEOs. This exclusive covers the most important takeaways from the meeting. 

As shown in the latest IADS White Paper on Sustainability and Department Stores, the topic of converging towards an environmentally and economically durable and sustainable model is extremely complicated. The more retailers dive into CSR and ESG commitments, the more complicated questions they have to face. In addition, the majority of IADS department stores do not have the luxury of starting from scratch to create a ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ business from the ground up. They have to pivot their centuries-old organisations to be able to meet the standards of today’s regulations and expectations while keeping business-as-usual operations.

However, it is still possible to find inspiration from new business models. In order to provide IADS member CEOs another angle, the Association invited Francesco Farinetti, CEO of the Green Pea department store in Turin, Italy to present the first “Green retail park” in the world.  The department store has been constructed sustainably and considers the impact that its business has on its community as well as the earth. Farinetti, who has been CEO of Eataly prior to this experience, presented his company’s radical take on a retailer that puts sustainability at the core of the business.

IADS provides its members with a weekly in-depth analysis on retail-oriented topics. This is an example of the themes the Association regularly addresses, and the topic of an article from the IADS members-only newsletter date 19 April 2023.

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