Sustainability-Linked Innovative Marketing Strategies and Their Impact on Retail Sales Behavior

Abstract

In this digital transformation era, sustainability-linked innovative marketing strategies have emerged as a possible prescription in the retail sector. Scholars have noted that sustainability is transforming the structure, processes, and the behavior, expectations, and decision-making of consumers across the marketplace. The paper attempts to move forward research in marketing strategy from developed, transitional, and advanced contexts to emerging economies that address current sustainability challenges. In proposing such a framework, the authors reason why regression, SEM, and AHP studies may be particularly suited for the iterative testing, validation, and refinement of findings in the form of empirical models such as consumer retention analysis. Additionally, the analytical hierarchy framework is used to organize a systematic evaluation of survey data to identify some best practices related to specific sales behaviors. This evaluation then furthers the examination of the theoretical and managerial implications related to the use of sustainability-linked marketing in terms of customer engagement, retail competitiveness, and long-term growth. A closing case finally examines the role of a prominent retail enterprise (i.e., Walmart) in the sustainability–sales nexus. Their effect is to increase the resilience of retailers operating using the sustainability-linked marketing approach based on the aforementioned empirical evidence.