Corporate social responsibility as a means of marketing to and communicating with customers within stores: A case study of UK food retailers

Abstract

In making the case for Corporate Social Responsibility the UK Government has argued that more transparency in the ways that companies address and manage environmental, economic and social issues can help improve relationships with employees, customers, and other stake holders (Department of Trade and Industry, 2004). The UK’s large food retailers are increasingly keen to report their commitment to CSR (Jones, et al., 2005) and while such reports can be accessed by various stake holders (Snider, et al., 2003) they are generally directed at share holders, investors, consumer pressure groups and policy makers rather than individual customers. This article offers a preliminary examination of the extent to which the UK’s major food retailers currently use CSR as a means of marketing to, and communicating with, customers whilst they are within their stores.