Target\u2019s focus on diversity is not going unnoticed. Last year the retail giant pledged to spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses and carry at least 500 Black-owned brands in stores and online by the end of 2025. They are already ahead of meeting their goal and currently carry products from over 100 Black-owned brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This \u201cincludes everything from investing in underrepresented entrepreneurs and launching Black-owned brands on our shelves, to working with Black designers and suppliers,\u201d LaKesha Brown, a Target spokesperson, told RangeMe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Target also has a Forward Founders<\/a> program, designed to engage entrepreneurs, particularly Black founders, early in their startup journeys by helping them navigate critical stages of bringing a brand to market, including ideation, product development, and scaling for mass retail. More than 2,000 founders have attended the virtual program since it launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Target is not just focused on Black-owned companies. It offers an assortment of products from Asian- and Latino-owned\/founded businesses; for Women\u2019s History Month, Target leveraged digital icons to help guests shop women-owned and founded brands online; for this year\u2019s Pride month<\/a>, Target is collaborating with LGBTQIA+ designers and LGBTQIA+-owned brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020, Kroger launched its Framework for Action: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative,<\/a> with goals including: Creating a more diverse culture; developing diverse talent; increasing spending with diverse suppliers; and supporting impactful approaches to advance racial equity with community partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020, both St. Louis-based Schnucks and Grand Rapids-Mich.-based Meijer held Supplier Diversity Summits to provide diverse-owned companies the opportunity to showcase and pitch their offerings to the retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meijer said it welcomed minority-, LGBTQ-, woman-, veteran-, and disability-owned businesses. Both retailers partnered with ECRM and RangeMe to host the events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the U.K., Sainsbury\u2019s<\/a> has made internal and external commitments to diversity, ensuring it highlights what it\u2019s doing in this realm; hiring a diverse workforce; and lets everyone celebrate being themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tesco affirmed<\/a> its commitments to having an inclusive workforce, where everyone from armed forces veterans to people with disabilities are welcome. Morrisons has made similar commitments<\/a>, including the formation of the Morrisons LGBT+ Network to help understand the challenges of LGBT+ colleagues, and making sure its policies work for minorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other retailers are concentrating DEI efforts in certain areas. In 2021, a number of retailers started labeling period products as \u201cPeriod Care\u201d rather than the more alienating \u201cFeminine Care.\u201d This included Woolworths in Australia, U.K. retailers Abel and Cole and Ethical Superstore, and mainstream retailers like Asda and Boots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeriods aren\u2019t a matter of gender. You don’t need to be feminine, nor a woman to have a period,\u201d says Marie Clair Scales, customer support lead, Good Club, a zero-waste grocery delivery company based in London. \u201cWe\u2019re choosing to be inclusive of a large number of people who still need access to period care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal, Scales adds, was to label period products \u201cin a more inclusive and sensitive manner.\u201d And this makes a difference to some customers, she adds. \u201cWe received great feedback when we renamed the category. Those unaffected by period inequality likely won’t even notice the difference and we received no negative feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with retailers making changes, there\u2019s more supplier diversity in all products now. We\u2019re seeing more companies created by minority entrepreneurs and those launching products catering to a diverse clientele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Chill](\"https:\/\/rangeme-blog-images.imgix.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/unnamed-5-1-scaled.jpeg?auto=format%2Ccompress\")
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Diversity in retail<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
U.K. DEI commitments<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Inclusive period care<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Suppliers focus on equity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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