Commercial
Commercial
Marketers are responsible for driving sales and growth.
Measuring the commercial performance and return on investment (ROI) of circular offerings can help marketers identify new, future-proofed growth opportunities and build compelling business cases for scaling circular business models.
Suggested priority indicators
- Absolute revenue from circular offering
- Share of revenue from circular offering versus total portfolio
- Percentage increase in total circular sales (monetary or units), and year-on-year trend
Complementary Indicators to Consider
- Percentage uplift in sales with new customers (e.g. increased penetration with changemakers)
- Percentage increase in the market share (total market or circular market, e.g. fashion or resale fashion)
- Cost of acquiring customers for circular offerings, compared to total portfolio benchmark
Brand example
Selfridges, a UK retailer,has committed to a target of 45% of its transactions coming from circular products and services by 2030. Selfridges track total circular sales as well as from individual resale, rental, refill and repair offerings. In 2024, year-on-year repair sales grew by 44%.
This indicator, amongst other data points, has helped the retailer identify resale, refill and repair as the strongest performing circular business models from a commercial, customer and impact perspective, and led them to prioritise efforts around these three models.
Brand
Brand
Marketing teams are responsible for building and maintaining brand saliency, affinity and reputation.
The right metrics can enable marketers to identify how circular offerings drive lasting brand value.
Suggested Priority Indicators
- Circular contribution to brand value (e.g. percentage change in key brand metrics, e.g. quality, trust, innovativeness, purpose)
- Percentage of target customers aware of circular offerings offered by brand
Complementary Indicators to Consider
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) among customers of circular offerings, compared to linear benchmark
- Percentage change in corporate reputation score attributed to circular offering marketing activations
- Number of unpaid or positive earned media exposures about circular offerings, compared to portfolio benchmark
Brand example
Reformation, a women’s clothing brand, partnered with resale platform thredUP to offer shopping credit in exchange for customers’ unwanted clothing from qualifying brands. In 2019, the partnership launch generated USD 0.4 million in unpaid earned media, including coverage from outlets like Refinery29 and EliteDaily. This reduced the need for upfront marketing spend, increased the brand exposure, and helped inform future partnerships.
Creative
Creative
Marketing teams optimise creative work to deliver measurable business, brand, or behavioural outcomes — whether that’s immediate or over time.
The right metrics can enable marketers to understand the effectiveness of campaigns of circular offerings in driving meaningful change and focus their efforts where they will have the greatest impact, whilst also tracking the visibility and investment in circular economy messaging across platforms.
Suggested Priority Indicators
- Percentile ranking of creative quality for circular advert (e.g. short term persuasiveness & long term equity build) versus portfolio benchmark
- Percentage sales uplift of circular offering attributed to a campaign
- Number of new-to-brand customers attributed to a circular campaign
Complementary Indicators to Consider
- Percentage of (core) campaigns with embedded circular messaging (e.g. offerings, lifestyles or behaviours)
- Percentage of advertising budget spent on promoting circular offerings versus total portfolio
- Number of website clicks/searches for circular offerings attributed to a campaign, compared to total portfolio benchmark
Brand example
After launching the ‘Better than New’ Refurb Friday campaign for refurbished personal health products, Philips saw a 14x Year-on-Year refurb sales* increase in the Benelux region and a >10% increase in the sustainability perception of Philips as a brand compared with the same period last year.
* The Year-on-Year increase is based on a comparison between the sale of refurb products on promotion during Refurb Friday 2025 versus during Black Friday campaign 2024.
Customer
Customer
Strong customer relationships are a key objective for many marketers.
Measuring how customers engage with circular offerings post-sale helps marketers evaluate and optimise loyalty strategies, maximise lifetime value, and keep customers engaged and products circulating at their highest value.
Suggested Priority Indicators
- Customer lifetime value (CLV) of circular offering versus total portfolio benchmark
- Customer retention rate of circular offering versus total portfolio benchmark
- Consumer sentiment of circular experience
Complementary Indicators to Consider
- Number of repeat purchases from circular offering customers versus total portfolio benchmark
- Number of post-use items recirculated by customer (back to brand/peer-to-peer/or through other platforms)
- Number of positive customer touchpoints after the initial sale (e.g. through repair service)
Brand example
After launching online returnable rice, pasta and laundry products, UK retailer Ocado surveyed 490+ customers who had purchased the reuse products to learn more about their sentiment towards the experience. 100% found the packaging to be clean and the product hygienic, 96% were likely to buy again in the future. Additionally, the reuse products had consistently high customer star ratings 4.8-4.9/ 5 for rice and pasta on Ocado.com.
After receiving this customer feedback, amongst other data points, the trial covering the current four reuse products and 65% of Ocado’s customer base became a continuous offer from the retailer.
Talent
Talent
Marketing departments rely on motivated, aligned teams to deliver brand goals.
Tracking how circular initiatives impact talent acquisition and retention helps marketing leaders evaluate and adapt their talent strategies to attract top talent.
Suggested Priority Indicators
Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) of those working on circular offerings versus linear
Employee retention rate for marketing roles for circular offerings versus marketing team benchmark
Complementary Indicators to Consider
Cost per hire for circular marketing roles for circular offerings versus marketing team benchmark
Number of job applications per marketing role for circular offerings versus marketing team benchmark
Marketing performance bonuses linked to circular metrics, such as an increase in the number of circular business model transactions
Brand examples
To our knowledge, there are no major brands currently disclosing employee NPS or other talent-related data comparisons between marketing teams working in circular versus traditional offerings.
Some circular-born organisations, like French-based refurbish tech provider Recommerce Group, do disclose their employee Net Promoter Score in their annual reports to “help gauge team morale, gather feedback, identify areas for improvement, and ensure a fulfilling work environment.”
Innovation
Innovation
Marketers can help ensure circular innovations meet real customer needs and create authentic stories that inspire action.
Measurement of the collaboration between marketing and innovation teams can help evaluate and embed marketing thinking into the innovation cycle for circular offerings from the onset.
Suggested Priority Indicators
Percentage of new products and services designed to achieve increases in longevity (functional and emotional), reusability or repairability compared to existing offerings
Percentage of new products with a net positive environmental impact
Rate-of-return over a defined time period
Complementary Indicators to Consider
Projected number of new customers attracted specifically by the availability of new circular offerings
Percentage of circular innovation projects that have engaged with marketing function (or consumer insights) in the proposition development process
Number of marketing employees trained in circular business model innovation
Brand examples
Diageo’s Breakthrough Innovation team works on radical, future-facing solutions for the multinational beverage group. In the sustainability team, every circular innovation project team collaborates closely with sustainable marketing experts to ensure circular innovations can be can be “a central engine of brand desirability and business growth”.
Organisational transformation
Organisational transformation
Marketing teams connect the organisation with its customers, making them essential partners in circular transformation.
Measuring and incentivising collaboration with other relevant teams, such as sustainability, supply chain, and finance departments, helps accelerate the shift to circular business models.
Suggested Priority Indicators
Number of recovered post-use items for resale (data shared by supply chain, marketing and sustainability teams)
Displacement rate (i.e. the rate at which buying, renting, or repairing an item through a circular business model displaces the purchase of a new item)
Percentage change in absolute carbon emissions attributed to circular offerings (may be relevant to all teams, but driven and monitored by sustainability teams)
Complementary Indicators to Consider
Cost savings driven by circular business model efficiencies
Percentage of IT budget dedicated to reverse logistics solutions
Volume of total packaging weight reduction attributed to circular offerings
Percentage of portfolio with digital product passports (digital traceability capabilities could enable more sophisticated marketing during use-phase and post-use)
Number of employees working in reverse supply chain
Brand example
In fiscal year 2024, 260,400 customers across 28 countries used the IKEA Buyback service to give over 495,000 items a new chance (up from 430,000 items in fiscal year 2023), following the Buyback Friday campaign and other cross-functional efforts to increase the recovery and resale of post-use IKEA items.
Industry transformation
Industry transformation
Marketers can drive cultural change, aspirations and beliefs – not just transactions.
Measuring and incentivising collaboration with communications teams – both within companies and across industries – helps turn good intentions into real action, encouraging more people to participate in the transition to a circular economy.
Suggested Priority Indicators
Percentage reduction in consumer value-action gap (e.g. the percentage of people who say they want to purchase circular offerings or adopt circular behaviours versus the percentage of people actually purchasing circular offerings or actively adopting circular behaviours).
Positive shift in public opinion, attitudes, and actions in support of circular offerings and behaviours.
Complementary Indicators to Consider
Number of consumers mobilised to actively take action on circular economy issues (e.g. number of signatures for circular policies like Right to Repair Europe, number of individual circular commitments like Pledge to Repair, number of volunteering hours devoted to circular practices like Patagonia Action Works).
Number of brands that allocate marketing budget to support circular economy policy initiatives (e.g. Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty).
Number of consumers sharing information on circular offerings and behaviours with their own networks (e.g. social media trends).
Brand examples
Recommerce Group offers refurbished products across Europe. The company tracks and publicly reports the intention-action gap in the second-hand smartphone market in Europe every year: as of 2025, 55% of Europeans were willing to buy a refurbished smartphone (up from 52% in 2024) and 46% have already bought a second-hand smartphone from a professional or a private individual (up from 43% in 2024).
The company also uses this tracker to investigate and disclose top concerns of consumers when buying second-hand technology. For instance, the top concern for French consumers was the limited visibility on the second-hand product’s lifespan (43%).
This data is used to adapt business and marketing strategies and is also shared publicly to help partners and competitors transform the European tech market.
In the same sector, Back Market has joined multi-stakeholder platforms like Right to Repair in Europe or Repair.org in the US to advocate for access to repair parts and documentation, and reinforce public support for circular policies. They often embed Right to Repair advocacy in marketing messaging and encourage their community to donate, sign petitions and participate in repair events (example).
