Sustainability of Wesfarmers Limited in Retail Business

This article discusses the sustainability initiatives of Wesfarmers Limited, one of the largest retail companies in Australia, through its four major business segments - Coles, Home Improvements, Department stores and Office Works. The article analyses the sustainability report for the year ending 2017 and highlights the company's focus on employee enhancement, stakeholder engagement, recycling programs, ethical sourcing of products, conservation of water, reduction of waste, and more.

ANSWER 2
HOW RETAIL BUSINESS SHOWS THE SUSTAINABILITY
Wesfarmers Limited is the company based in Western Australia and has been regarded as one of
the largest company of Australia in the retail sector. It has been incorporated since the year of
1914 and has diverse business operations namely supermarkets, hotels, home improvement,
department stores and many divisions in industrial businesses.
The company is into the four major businesses or segments namely – Coles, Home
Improvements, Department stores and office works. The four business segments have been
detailed below with regard to the sustainability of the company. The same has been analysed
from the sustainability report for the year ending 2017.
- Coles – The Coles division has been formed from the acquisition of coles group in 2007
has been into the area of providing the food, groceries liquor, fuel and financial services.
Through the priorities established by the company, it seems that the Coles division is
sustainable. It includes:
o Starting of Employee enhancement program whereby each and every employee
has the right to have the free counseling regarding the issues relating to not only
to the workplace but also to the personal (Wesfarmers Limited, 2017).
o Engage with the stakeholders of the company to have the improved contract labor
practices for the fresh produce.
o Maximizing and increasing the recycling programs of stores.
o The current year has brought about the change in the composition of leaders and
introduced the composition of Women positions in the leaderships so as to have
the gender balance in the leaderships.
o The products for the coles brand shall be ethically driven.
- Home Improvements – This segment deals with the home industry. For the home
improvements segment, the leading retailer is the Bunnings. It operates in Australia and
New Zealand. It serves the products to the builders of various projects, people dealing in

commercial terms and majorly the housing industry (Wesfarmers Limited, 2017).
Following four are the major areas on which they have focused:
o It is to be ensured that the company will serve the industry with the good support
and the community of the company shall grow in all the ways in the decent
manner.
o It is to be ensured that the sourcing of products shall met with the requirements of
the customers and wherever necessary the same shall be in accordance with the
requirements of the standards which are accepted locally and those standards also
which are accepted globally.
o It aims at increasing the current level of conservation of water, reduction of waste
and recycling of resources and having the more focus on the achieving that
activity which will result in the cost and thus is the cost effective method.
- Department Stores – For departmental stores, Kmart is one of the largest retailers and
which is working across Australia and New Zealand. It provides the large number of
apparels and merchandise products and that too with the heavy discounts. Secondly it has
the auto service division which works as the repair service center for auto. On the
following issues, the segment has the focus:
o Achieving the efficiency in energy
o Achieving the safety of employees
o Achieving the Waste reduction
o Sourcing of the products in an ethical manner
- Office Works - It is the retailer of the products and the solutions related to the office
work. It has the following aims which makes it sustainable:
o Having the members of the team safe
o Sourcing of the products in an ethical manner
o Responsibly sourcing the fibre of the wood
o Having the ways through which the operational environment can be less
impacted
o Having the ways through which the product environment can be less impacted

REFERENCES
Wesfarmers Limited, (2017), “Sustainability Report”, available on
https://sustainability.wesfarmers.com.au/media/2222/2017-wesfarmers-sustainability-full-
report.pdf accessed on 21-05-2018.
Wesfarmers Limited, (2017), “Our Businesses”, available on https://www.wesfarmers.com.au
accessed on 21-05-2018