Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Corporate Responsibility

As a retailer, you already know that any business is driven by the needs and desires of its customers. When organizations like Greenpeace get involved in an issue and phrases like "corporate responsibility" start cropping up, consumers inevitably take notice and change their views—and their buying habits. Trader Joe's, for example, became the subject of a very public 2009 Greenpeace campaign after its seafood-sourcing practices were found to be unethical. After the exposure, the supermarket chain—and others listed in the Greenpeace report—promised to change for the better.

Many industry experts believe that Trader Joe's 2010 pledge to remove all ecologically unfriendly merchandise from its shelves by January 2013 came as a response to public pressure. A June 2008 report from Greenpeace, Carting Away the Oceans, highlighted the retailer's questionable seafood-sourcing practice and constructed a website, "Traitor Joe's," (traitorjoe.com) to raise awareness of the supermarket's dubious business ethics. At the time of the report, Trader Joe's seafood range included a large number of red-list species, so named because of their dwindling numbers in the wild.

In addition to the struggling species in its coolers, many of Trader Joe's seafood products were allegedly purchased from controversial sources. According to Greenpeace, environmentally unfriendly harvesting methods had been used, which, as well as causing the steady deterioration of fish stocks, were known to damage marine habitats. Trader Joe's was also accused of failing to label its seafood stock correctly, thereby effectively concealing its seafood's sources from customers—many of whom believed they were buying ecologically sound merchandise.

According to the original Greenpeace study, Trader Joe's seafood section included fourteen of the twenty-two red-list species: Chilean sea bass and orange roughy were particularly provocative offerings. At the time of the 2009 CATO report, Chilean sea bass were predicted to become commercially extinct within five years.

Greenpeace's 2008 sustainable seafood scorecard—the top twenty companies with the least ecofriendly seafood-sourcing practices—placed Trader Joe's at number seventeen. Other supermarket retailers on the list included Meijer, Safeway, and Whole Foods. Sourcing practices at all twenty businesses were classified as unacceptable in the 2008 report.

Since 2008, several of the companies have apparently improved their business ethics and seafood sourcing initiatives. The last Greenpeace scorecard, published in April 2012, put Safeway at the top of the list and gave the company a "green" score. Whole Foods placed second. Meanwhile, despite making significant progress, Trader Joe's came in at number fifteen on the list, with a passing score of 4.5 out of a possible ten. Out of the twenty original companies listed on the 2008 report, all but four—Meijer, Supervalu, Publix, and Winn-Dixie/BI-LO—achieved passing scores on the 2012 list.

The sustainable seafood-sourcing debate is just one example of an area in which corporate responsibility can be a key element in widespread environmental and economic change. Although Trader Joe's sourcing practices were not illegal, they caused environmental harm; as a result, the retailer took corporate responsibility for its actions and chose to change them.

Big businesses all over the planet have the power to change the environment or the world economy for the better—or for the worse. When huge companies take corporate responsibility and begin to self regulate, their internal adjustments often mark the start of cascade effects in supply lines. If policy changes mean that large businesses no longer purchase product from controversial sources, their suppliers have to alter their own practices to suit their customers' requirements, or find new buyers. Usually, the best business decision, particularly when potentially unethical strategies are brought to light, is to change.

Sometimes, consumers' buying habits and opinions change drastically as the result of new information; as a consequence, retailers often have to adjust their tactics. Trader Joe's changed its food-sourcing policies; other companies on Greenpeace's list also took corporate responsibility and modified their practices accordingly. In the end, whether your retail business is large or small, public opinion and purchasing power dictate success. When your company takes corporate responsibility and tackles an issue, it sends a strong message to consumers: your business cares about the world.

(Photo courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.com)