Identification of Material Topics

Process for Identifying Material Topics

SKM adopted the latest version of the GRI guidelines and identified material topics through processes such as making changes to sustainability issues, defining impacts, assessing impacts, analyzing impacts, and ranking sustainability issues.

Steps for Identifying Material Topics Description
Changes to Sustainability Issues Based on the 16 sustainability issues identified in 2022, and upon recommendations from external sustainability consultants, we have renamed "Waste Management" to "Circular Economy and Waste Management" to reflect the importance of circular economy trends and stakeholder concerns. Thus, we continued to focus on 16 sustainability issues in 2023.
Defining Impacts & Survey Design External sustainability consultants assisted SKM in defining 10 issues with positive impacts and 10 issues with negative impacts based on their potential economic, environmental, and social impacts as well as designing a materiality assessment questionnaire.
Issuing Surveys & Impact Assessment To assess changes in impacts across different years, SKM conducted an impact questionnaire this year to survey opinions of external stakeholders. HQ units and department stores issued materiality questionnaires to our eight main stakeholders. All stakeholders ranked issues according to their external impacts, which we then used to analyze and our issues of significant impact for the year.
Impact Analysis
  • SKM recovered 859 questionnaires to our eight main stakeholders.
  • The stakeholders' responses were compiled, and the impact severity scores for each issue in 2023 were calculated. The impact severity scores for 2022 and 2023 were converted to percentages for comparison to identify changes in level of impact and ranking.
Ranking & Disclosing Sustainability Issues We've adjusted the ranking of materiality topics and materiality levels according to impact level and rankings. The 2023 sustainability issues were categorized into eight key topics, five secondary topics, and three miscellaneous topics. The sustainability report highlights management mechanisms and the corresponding GRI indicators for the key topics.

Results from Material Topic Identification

16 Sustainability Issues Positive Impact Negative Impact Materiality in 2023* Materiality in 2022*
Talent cultivation and development Robust talent cultivation and development system - Key Topics Key Topics
Talent attraction and retention Attracts and retains outstanding talents - Key Topics Key Topics
Product quality and responsibility Outstanding product quality and safety assurance Unclear labels or signs for events and ads; Improper product quality management Key Topics Key Topics
Operational performance and innovative stategies Protects and safeguards shareholder rights - Key Topics Key Topics
Corporate governance and ethical management - Poor corporate governance Key Topics Key Topics
Information security and privacy protection - Company and customer data leaks Key Topics Key Topics
Customer relationship management Excellent customer relationship management Customer reports, complaints, and disputes Key Topics Key Topics
Circular economy and waste management Promotes the circular economy Waste pollution Key Topics Secondary Topics
Innovative digital services Enhances customer's digital shopping experience - Secondary Topics Key Topics
Fair and healthy workplace - Violations of workplace safety and labor rights Secondary Topics Secondary Topics
Social Good and Arts & Culture Promotion Promotes the arts, culture, and community development - Secondary Topics Secondary Topics
Risk Management - Poor risk management Secondary Topics Secondary Topics
Sustainable consumption initiatives Raises the industry's awareness of sustainability - Secondary Topics Secondary Topics
Water Management - Water consumption Miscellaneous Topics Miscellaneous Topics
Low-carbon Energy Management - Energy consumption & GHG emissions Miscellaneous Topics Miscellaneous Topics
Sustainable supply chain Shared prosperity and sustainable development with suppliers - Miscellaneous Topics Miscellaneous Topics
  • Note:
    1. Significant changes in material topics in 2023 from 2022 are "Circular Economy and Waste Management" and "Digital Innovation Services." The main reason for the change to "Circular Economy and Waste Management" is the increased regulatory scrutiny on resource waste both domestically and internationally. For example, the Taiwanese government intensified inspections on e-commerce packaging in 2023, and the United Nations announced the "Global Plastics Treaty" in 2024. Therefore, "Circular Economy and Waste Management" issue has been upgraded to a key topic. "Digital Innovation Services" was downgraded to a secondary topic due to changes in ranking provided by our eight stakeholder groups, meeting the threshold for downgrade.
    2. Key topics, related management measures, and related GRI disclosures are disclosed in this report.