Shopper demographics continue to change; according to the Census Bureau, racial and ethnic groups that are today referred to as “minority” will make up a majority of the U.S. population by 2043. By meeting the needs of our increasingly multicultural and diverse communities, co-ops have an opportunity to gain market share.
Recently, NCG hosted a training for member co-ops that explored what supplier diversity is and how NCG and co-ops can begin to create change. We also looked at NCG’s early endeavors in supplier diversity system development and previewed where we are headed with this work.
Supplier diversity leads to more just and inclusive businesses that contribute to healthy communities for all by working to increase the inclusion of diverse-owned businesses in an organization’s procurement of goods and services. By intentionally working to remove barriers that have traditionally limited equal access to market opportunities for diverse suppliers, organizations can further social sustainability and gain a competitive edge. Through a supplier diversity system, co-ops can meet the needs of the changing shopper demographic by providing consumers with more diverse offerings and better information about the people behind the products they purchase.
NCG defines a diverse supplier as a business that is at least 51% owned and operated by an individual or group that is part of a systemically underrepresented or underserved group. These include businesses that are women owned, BIPOC owned, LGBTQIA+ owned, veteran/service-disabled veteran owned, or owned by persons with disabilities. We are developing an Inclusive Trade Program designed to identify and increase the representation of diverse suppliers in NCG’s purchasing programs and in our supply chain. Initially we’ll focus on the consumer brands we work with on behalf of all co-ops and, eventually, we plan to include non-cost of goods suppliers.
We’ve been able to gather initial information for NCG by partnering with UNFI’s supplier diversity team to apply its diverse supplier certifications to our SPINS key account data in the UNFI diverse brands report. A refreshed report will be available each quarter. We recently released a suite of Inclusive Trade marketing materials that include channel tags, circle violator signs, profile signs, a “bug” and social media tiles. Co-ops can access the UNFI diverse brands report along with the marketing materials from the Inclusive Trade page of our website, under Resources.
Looking ahead, we’re working with our analyst team to incorporate diverse-owned brand information from our secondary supplier KeHE into the existing diverse brands report. Much of the remainder of 2021 will be spent working with a diverse third-party data supplier to build out the database for the companies that work in NCG programs. Early in 2022, the Inclusive Trade logo bug will be incorporated into the Co+op Deals flyer and shelf signs, and we expect to open a database that will invite co-ops to encourage their diverse suppliers to register in NCG’s system.
Access the Supplier Diversity Training to learn more about the business case for supplier diversity, diverse supplier categories, certification versus classification and NCG’s commitment to this work.
