Sustainability on the product page: the retail growth opportunity

Sustainability on the product page: the retail growth opportunity

Retailers and marketplaces are sitting on a growth lever that is still too often hidden: sustainability messaging at the point of sale. When climate data is visible, clear, and credible on the product page, it can help brands build trust, influence buying decisions, and turn sustainability into something commercially useful.

In a recent webinar, Imogen Wethered and Jack Linnett explored how leading retail and marketplace brands can use climate data to make themselves more discoverable and more compelling to shoppers. The message was simple: if sustainability is real, it should be easy to find and easy to understand when customers are deciding what to buy.

Why sustainability is still underused

For many retailers, sustainability still sits outside the main shopping journey. It may appear in a separate ESG report, a footer page, or a brand story, but not where the customer is making a decision. That creates a missed opportunity, because the product page is one of the most powerful places to build trust and support conversion.

Imogen’s background running a SaaS retail tech business, and working with brands including John Lewis, Waitrose, House of Fraser and Honest Burgers, gives her a practical view of what works in digital commerce. Her experience shows that the best retail experiences are not just efficient, but informative in a way that helps customers decide faster and feel better about their choice.

Why clarity beats complexity

One of the strongest themes from the webinar was that customers act on what is clearest. At the point of decision, people do not want to decode complicated claims or navigate dense sustainability language. They want simple information they can understand quickly and trust immediately.

That is especially important for younger shoppers. Gen Z is making more decisions based on values, which means brands that make sustainability clearer and more visible are better placed to win attention and loyalty.

Data needs a story

Climate data by itself is not enough. It becomes valuable when it is turned into a story that fits the brand and helps customers understand why it matters to them. That means translating performance into language that is relevant, useful, and easy to act on.

This matters because shoppers are not just looking for numbers. They are looking for reassurance. If sustainability information is too abstract, too technical, or too hidden, it is unlikely to influence behaviour. But when it is presented clearly, it can support both trust and conversion.

How Earthmark helps

Earthmark’s role is to make sustainability claims simpler, standardised, and more digestible. By consolidating credible data into a format customers can understand in seconds, it helps brands surface information in a way that supports decision-making rather than distracting from it.

That also makes the message more scalable. Instead of relying on one-off copy or vague brand language, retailers can present performance in a consistent, verifiable way across product pages, campaigns, and other customer touchpoints.

Static scores only tell part of the story. Trends, context, and progress over time matter just as much, because they show movement and momentum rather than a single point in time. That is where brands can communicate more honestly and more usefully.

The commercial case

This is not just about communications. It is about commercial performance. If brands ignore sustainability messaging at the point of sale, they risk losing customers who are actively choosing based on values. In other words, trust is a conversion issue.

The brands that get this right will be the ones that treat sustainability as part of the buying journey, not a separate post-purchase story. That means putting the right information in the right place, making it easy to compare, and ensuring the message is both credible and commercially relevant.

What retailers should do next

For retailers starting from scratch, the first step is simple: identify where sustainability information can support the customer journey most directly. In many cases, that will be the product page. From there, brands can build out from clear claims to supporting evidence, richer storytelling, and more consistent messaging across channels.

The biggest mistake is overcomplicating it. Customers do not need more jargon. They need simple, verified information that helps them decide. If brands can provide that, sustainability stops being a nice-to-have and starts becoming a real growth lever.

FAQ

Why is sustainability messaging important on the product page?
Because it is the moment when customers are deciding what to buy, and clear information can build trust and support conversion.

How should brands present climate data?
They should make it standardised, verifiable, and easy to understand, with enough context to help customers interpret it quickly.

Why does Gen Z matter here?
Younger shoppers are more values-led, so brands that make sustainability visible and credible are better placed to win attention and loyalty.

Retail’s next growth lever is already there — it just needs to be made visible. When brands put credible sustainability information on the product page, they make it easier for customers to trust, choose, and buy.