Dive Brief:

• With Earth Day approaching, retailers are bringing sustainability to the forefront and Zulily is no exception. On Tuesday, the company unveiled its first ever Sustainability Shop, a hub for environmentally friendly products, the company said in an emailed statement.

• The shop will sell an assortment of products that are reusable, made from recycled materials or recognized by a third party as meeting certain sustainability standards, the company said. 

• The retailer also surveyed parents and found that 94% of respondents said being eco-friendly is important to them. Most respondents (85%) also said they wanted advice on lessening their family's environmental footprint, per the company announcement.

Dive Insight:

As retailers roll out sustainability initiatives to capitalize on the hype around Earth Day, Zulily has added its voice to the fray with the rollout of a sustainability focused shop.

Other retailers have made similar moves over the past month. H&M announced a new collection with clothing created by Desserto, an alternative leather made with cactus plants, and EVO by Fulgar, a yarn derived from castor oil. 

"We know … that after spending more time at home over the last year, many of us are thinking about how the purchases we make for inside our homes can make a difference in the world around us, too," Megan Marshall, Zulily's director of brand marketing, said in a statement. "Our new Sustainability Shop and work with Conservation International aims to help moms everywhere do what they've always loved doing at Zulily – shop and save – but in a way that's better for the present environment so future generations can continue to enjoy the planet."

And research shows that is still a top priority for retailers, despite the pandemic. Though the coronavirus health crisis remains at the forefront of retailers' minds, experts say companies have continued to pay attention to their sustainability goals and environmental sustainability will likely remain a priority once the pandemic ends. In fact, an April 2020 survey from global management and consulting firm Kearney, just as the pandemic began, found that almost half of consumers said the pandemic heightened their environmental sustainability concerns, and 11% of respondents said they had changed their purchases based on environmental claims in the past year. 

Zulily's findings echo other research into consumers' interest in sustainability. Per Zulily's survey, the majority (90%) of respondents said they prefer their online orders to arrive in as few packages as possible at a time when online shopping has surged. As for which areas of the home respondents think sustainable products are most important, 60% of respondents said the kitchen and 30% said the bathroom.