Reitan Convenience publishes Sustainability Report 2023

Reitan Convenience has today published its Sustainability Report for 2023. This year, the company presents a new type of report, communicating in a more transparent, holistic and data driven way on its sustainability performance. The report also includes a new climate action plan.

By analysing sales across Reitan Convenience’s seven countries, using eight different parameters - from climate footprint to the presence of risk commodities and a set of health aspects – the company now understands in a new way how to transform the assortment to lead the change towards the future of convenience.

Over the past years, Reitan Convenience has worked hard to build a structured approach to collecting sustainability data in multiple dimensions, integrating it with its financial data.

“At Reitan Convenience we take sustainability seriously as we know that we cannot sell coffee on a dead planet. While the transformation required will be challenging, not least for us in the global food sector, we believe that there are huge business opportunities for those who find innovative solutions that can contribute to a better future,” said Reitan Convenience CEO Mariette Kristenson.

Reitan Convenience has found that only a few of its products stand for a large share of sales exhibiting a certain risk factor. For example, 20 percent of the company’s products cause 80 percent of product related emissions, while a quarter of Reitan Convenience’s sales from products containing palm oil come from no more than ten distinct products. The multi-dimensional deep dive in its assortment has allowed the company to take data driven decisions, and act strategically to make changes that really make a difference.

“Guided by our new business intelligence, all countries have been hard at work to develop new hero products that can give triple wins - better for the planet, loved by our customers and boosting our business. We have set our ambitions high: we want to lead the change in our industry to make convenience sustainable and sustainability convenient. I'm confident we will achieve this together with our fantastic merchants.” said Mariette Kristenson.

One example of the new products comes from RC Estonia, which switched one of their popular hot dogs, a beef-herb one, to a chicken-herb sausage with a considerably better emissions profile. The results were great; 50 percent increased sales and 25 percent decreased climate emissions, even accounting for the increased sales.

But transforming convenience will require a shift that reaches beyond the company’s signature products. Not least must the power of supplier collaborations be unlocked, to enable a shift towards a sustainable supply chain.

One step towards deepened supplier collaborations in 2023 was taken by RC Sweden, as they launched a very ambitious appendix to their Code of Conduct. It covers a broad range of sustainability expectations, from sourcing of risk commodities to food additives and packaging, that applies to all their suppliers of products. The requirements go far beyond what is required from a legal or best practice standpoint, but the CoC is seen by Reitan Convenience as a tool to catalyse change towards the future of convenience.

In addition to the new business intelligence, the product innovation and the supplier collaborations, a highlight of this year's sustainability report is a new climate action plan, which builds on a detailed analysis of the reduction potential in different parts of the business. Reitan Convenience’s estimates point to a substantial innovation gap of some 30 percent.

“This serves as an important reminder that the future of convenience is not the convenience of today minus the bad stuff - it is something different altogether. It is an exciting prospect for us at Reitan Convenience, and we hope to inspire others with the approach we take in this year’s sustainability report towards a more healthy and sustainable convenience future ,” said Malin Eklund, CSO at Reitan Convenience.

In 2023, Reitan Convenience operated close to 1 800 stores across the Nordics and Baltics with a total 16.5 billion NOK in systemwide sales.

For press inquiries, please contact:
Malin Eklund
Communications & Sustainability Director
malin.eklund@reitanconvenience.no
+46 766069740