As consumers seek products that cause minimal environmental harm and bring about positive social impact, and as awareness of supply chain impact grows, retailers must embrace sustainability. Given their unique position in the supply chain between upstream suppliers and downstream consumers, retailers are key to a circular economy in which products at the initial end-of-life stage are returned to the supply chain for continued use. By serving as a connection between suppliers and consumers, retail initiatives can help to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Furthermore, retailers can leverage their unique position in the supply chain to enable and legitimize a focus on social issues across the supply chain. We discuss such actions, the challenges that need to be overcome to have scalable impact, and the mechanisms retailers can utilize to make such progress.

当消费者寻求对环境造成最小影响并带来积极社会影响的产品时，并且随着对供应链影响的认识不断增强，零售商必须拥护可持续性。鉴于零售商在上游供应商和下游消费者之间在供应链中的独特地位，零售商是循环经济的关键，在这种循环经济中，报废初期的产品将退回供应链以继续使用。通过充当供应商和消费者之间的联系，零售计划可以帮助减少，重复使用和回收利用。此外，零售商可以利用其在供应链中的独特地位来实现并合法化对整个供应链中社会问题的关注。我们讨论了此类行动，应对具有挑战性的挑战以产生可扩展的影响以及零售商可以用来取得这种进步的机制。