Achieving sustainability goals today requires a concerted effort supported by ambitious but critical actions to envision a safe planet for us and for generations to come. But what does it mean to design a ‘green’ world today? It means awakening the consciousness of the individual to change even those small daily habits that, multiplied by the number of inhabitants of the Earth, can have a truly significant impact on the environment.

The new ‘conscious’ consumers
If we look at the world of retail, one revolution underway is, for example, that of ‘conscious consumers’, a new cluster that, in its purchasing decision, decisively considers a brand’s attention and commitment to sustainability issues: from packaging to transparent communication, up to quality that considers a use of resources that can combat waste.

2022 retail trends
According to what are the new 2022 Retail Trends, 86 percent of consumers consider the amount of packaging when purchasing products. A trend also confirmed by the latest report on responsible consumption in Italy, which shows the practice as consolidated: in fact, almost 63 percent of respondents said they adopt responsible consumption choices. Also in Italy, in the post-lockdown period, 27 percent of Italians increased their eco-friendly purchases. Two out of three favour purchases where sustainability initiatives are promoted: this value becomes a true purchasing discriminator especially among Millennials and Generation Z. In fact, about 60 percent of buyers in these two groups would pay more for eco-friendly and sustainable products.

Fashion and sustainability
If we focus on the fashion world, where sustainability issues concern the use of new materials such as, for example, derivatives from vegetable waste, the green supply chain and the fight against fast fashion, the propensity to purchase sustainable products shows significant percentages: if in the USA 43 percent of Americans choose them, even in Europe 1 out of 2 consumers cannot do without them, while in China this figure rises to almost 2 two out of three (74 percent).

Retex sustainability projects
Retex works to make processes sustainable and foster change by providing a range of diverse solutions that can be integrated into different markets. One of these solutions concerns a crucial environmental issue: receipt printing. Suffice it to say that 30,000 paper receipts correspond to a tree and consume 3,480 litres of water and 330 kilograms of greenhouse gases.

Retex offers Payper, the digital receipt printing app, a solution that allows to reduce both environmental and economic impact by digitalizing processes also in response to the inflation of raw material costs.

How Payper works
Payper is a simple app with an online service that allows receipts to be received in digital format through an integration with the till software. Serving as a substitute for the paper receipt, Payper not only digitalizes the receipt and the entire receipt storage process, but also supports the consumer experience by reducing, for example, through receiving a PDF version on the mobile phone, long waits at the checkout.