We’ve long believed that sustainability isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s good business. But belief alone isn’t enough. What really matters is evidence.

That’s why, together with our sustainability partners Distinkt, we’re launching a sector-first experiment focused on one simple question:

Does clear, confident communication about sustainability increase retail sales in cultural and heritage venues and attractions? And more importantly, by how much?

Why this matters now

Visitors are increasingly values-led. They want to visit places and spend their money on products that align with their values and beliefs, but only if those values are made visible, understandable, and meaningful at the point of sale.

Too often sustainable products sit quietly on shelves, their story untold. We want to test what happens when that changes. We want to do this by creating clear, honest, well-designed communication that helps customers make informed choices.

What does sustainability mean to you?

Sustainability isn’t a single action or label. It’s about the everyday choices organisations make, from local sourcing and ethical supply chains to materials, packaging, energy use, and how stories are told to visitors. Over the past two decades, sustainability has moved from being controversial, to widely accepted, to contested again, often pulled between ideology, economics, and practicality. For cultural and visitor attractions, it’s not a theoretical debate but a daily balancing act, weighing values, visitor expectations, commercial realities, and operational responsibilities. If sustainability feels complex or hard to define in your organisation, we can help you identify what it genuinely looks like for you so you can take part in the trial in a way that feels authentic, achievable, and aligned with your purpose.

We need you! The experiment

We’re inviting a small group of cultural, heritage venues and attractions to take part in a three-month retail trial, measuring how sustainability messaging affects sales of selected products.

The experiment will run across a minimum of five participating retail sites that are part of a cultural or heritage venue or attraction, with a shared start and end date, to ensure robust and comparable results.

What we’ll measure is simple and powerful - the uplift in sales when sustainability is clearly communicated.

**What’s involved?**
To take part, venues will need three things:
**A list of sustainable products** **already stocked** (ideally for at least 12 months)
**Access to historic and live sales data** for those products
**Printed sustainability messaging** for your point of sale which we will design for you.
We’ll support you through every step, from product selection to briefing your team.

What results are we expecting?

Based on previous trials run by Distinkt in hospitality settings, we expect to see sales uplifts of between 15% and 30% for clearly labelled sustainable products.

Here’s the evidence:

BrewDog: 24% increase in sales of carbon-labelled beers
Greene King: 18% uplift using carbon menus
Honest Burgers: 21% increase in sales of sustainable menu items

Why take part?

This isn’t a theoretical exercise. It’s a chance to:

Increase sales of products you already stock
Understand what sustainability messaging really works
Equip your team with confident, values-led narratives
Generate credible data you can use in reporting, funding applications and your strategic work
Help shape best practice for the wider sector by being the organisation that does this first

And we’re open to incentives too! In previous trials, a friendly competition (and a celebratory reward) helped build momentum and engagement. We’re happy to explore what would work best for your teams.

Interested?

We’re looking for a small number of committed partners who want to test, learn, and lead. If you’d like to be part of the experiment or simply want to explore whether your retail offer could benefit, we’d love to talk.

Sustainability shouldn’t sit quietly on the shelf. It should work for your visitors, your values, and your bottom line.

Register your interest and we’ll be in touch.

Can sustainability sell more? We’re running a retail experiment to find out.