A digital sustainability communication model for a B2B Agri-food marketplace. Deliveristo case study.

The first chapter of this thesis introduces the concept of sustainability, focusing on sustainable development within companies. It has been addressed why it is and will be increasingly important to implement sustainability in daily activities and what the tools and steps to follow can be (for example the use of certifications, the code of ethics, the materiality map, reports sustainability such as ESG and the use of communication). The second chapter deals with the agricultural strategies of the European Union such as the CAP, the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy and what the most sustainable alternatives to current agricultural production and monocultures can be. Through more respectful practices such as organic, agroecology, integrated agriculture or even the use of digital technologies such as micro-irrigation, weather stations or the use of big data, it will be possible to have a transition towards sustainability and satisfy the growing demand from increasingly worried consumers. The third chapter outlines the importance of communicating sustainability and the objectives of green marketing but also of the factors that slow down its adoption. Furthermore, we talk about greenwashing, i.e. the phenomenon that occurs when self-referential sustainability is communicated without the use of information and concrete data, making it unreliable. This is why it is important to know the European regulatory framework to combat greenwashing and how transparent and effective sustainability communication must be constructed to become more competitive on the market. The final part of the third chapter deals with the importance of technology and digital which have promoted new business models especially in the communication sector. Tools such as websites and social media are useful for promoting corporate sustainability and more ethical behavior but require skills and attention as they can also become a tool for disinformation. The fourth chapter deals with the internship period in the company Deliveristo S.p.A. in Milan, a marketplace dedicated exclusively to the Ho.Re.Ca. sector. During my working period I was able to be part of the communications and marketing team and I was responsible for the implementation of corporate sustainability, which had recently begun. One of the goals was to understand which tags to include on the site so that customers could more easily find sustainable products or producers. This thesis was developed to find a mathematical model that could help Deliveristo and any other marketplace to define the best communication methods in an e-commerce. Other objectives were: knowing the interest of sustainability and its communication in the Ho.Re.Ca.. sector, understanding its limits and problems and understanding whether supply and demand are aligned. The data collection method was done by sending questionnaires to both restaurants and producers throughout Italy. The data was analyzed with Excel, comparison graphs were created, and statistical analysis was carried out with linear regression with the aim of creating the model that could help a marketplace choose the most appropriate method of communicating supplier sustainability (for example by inserting certifications, a description or graphic symbols such as the green leaf). It was understood that the sample of restaurateurs was small and therefore three sub-models were created using regression with dummy variables. This thesis is relevant because it focuses on the issue of communication of sustainability in the Ho.Re.Ca. sector. The analysis of the data acquired in the two questionnaires showed that there is an interest on the part of restaurants and producers towards sustainability but there are possible communication difficulties between the two stakeholders, which leads restaurants to not purchase a more sustainable supply. The major problems of the lack of communication of sustainability by producers is the lack of time.