Standalone CSR reporting by U.S. retail companies

•We examine standalone CSR reporting by U.S. retail companies.•Environmental issues receive more coverage, on average, than other social items.•The reports focus more on discussions of programs and initiatives than on providing actual performance data.•Reporting companies exhibit higher environmental reputation scores in spite of having worse environmental performance.•First-time issuance is followed by increases in the holdings of companies’ stocks by socially responsible mutual funds.

We investigate first-time use of standalone CSR reporting in the U.S. retail industry. We find it is limited to publicly traded companies and that environmental rather than other social disclosures are most prominent. We document that firms focus on discussing CSR initiatives and programs as opposed to providing performance data, suggesting the reports are more about image enhancement than transparent accountability. We explore impacts of the choice to disclose, and our findings suggest that standalone CSR reporting by the retail companies appears to positively influence perceptions of company reputation, and may be leading to increased appeal to socially responsible investors.