tal thinking was that you might get up to five positive recommendations from a customer to other potential customers if your service at least met or, better, exceeded expectations. On the flip side, if you disappointed or upset a customer they were likely to convey their bad experience to up to 20 other people. The claims against Mecca were made via Estee Laundry, an anonymous beauty collective on Instagram with 124,000 followers that aims to hold businesses accountable for their actions. A string of big cosmetic brands have been put in the spotlight including Loreal, Estee Lauder and Mac. Oh for those days again when damage to the business was serious but not catastrophic. Now social media allows an aggrieved customer to tell hundreds or even thousands of others about an experience that, from their viewpoint, was unsatisfactory – and the retailer has no idea who they need to give their side of the story. The customer service experience, including responses to complaints or problems, is obviously more important than ever before, yet there is often a challenge in recruiting motivated, engaging and enthusiastic staff who are unsupervised for long periods. The challenges of retail go well beyond the in-store experience notwithstanding that staff in stores are crucial to brand image, integrity and trust. The challenge of meeting customer expectations is not just about having the right assortment of colour, size, quality and value pricepoints. Customers are increasingly interested in the environmental, social and ethical performance of businesses. The social media that creates relatively low cost marketing opportunities also creates high cost brand damage threats as social activists develop campaigns targeting retailers behaving badly from their perspective. Social activists are becoming more strident and they are having an influence on public opinion on issues as diverse as climate change, gambling, animal cruelty, Israeli politics, waste generation, product ingredients such as palm oil and working conditions in supplier factories overseas. Some campaigns are generating legislative responses such as the Modern Slavery Act 2018 passed by the Australian Parliament to require companies ensure that their operations and supply chains do not employ the use of slave labour. Legislative changes dealing with waste generation, which are likely to include greater responsibility for retailers and suppliers on product packaging, are now being explored by state governments. While the social activists are pushing for change through legislation, they are also using boycotts and shaming tactics to force retailers and other businesses to change their practices and policies. Their influence and pressure for change is even extending to the boardroom through shareholder agitation, a factor in Woolworths and Coles looking to move away from the gaming industry. Shareholders at Coles annual meeting urged the food retailer to quit the Business Council of Australia as JB Hi-Fi has done because of the industry lobby group’s stance on carbon emissions and climate change policy. Coles directors also copped a serve on its supply chain governance and exploitation of workers employed by suppliers, as well as for the impact of restructuring initiatives on employees in its own business. The South African-owned David Jones department store chain has certainly recognised the need to meet community as much as customer expectations in its business practices. In the past two years, David Jones has been pursuing environmental sustainability goals, aiming to become a zero-carbon and zero-waste department store. The retailer has convened meetings with environmental organisations and industry players such as World Wildlife Fund and the Green Building Council of Australia to review its supply chain processes and improve its sustainability practices to reduce its carbon emissions. Prices are still obviously important to customers but they are also an increasing number of shoppers who are considering other factors in their purchase decisions, including the social and environmental responsibility demonstrated by the retailer.