Sustainable Logistics in the Ecommerce Sector: Time to Go Green

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred a stampede toward online shopping. But while the trend has provided a windfall for ecommerce businesses, has it been good for the planet?

Hundreds of thousands of extra scooters and vans are now dashing about the streets of the world’s major urban centers making on-demand deliveries, same-day deliveries, and ferrying returns. There is no getting away from it. Last-mile delivery has become the most pollutant link in the ecommerce supply chain.

Aware of their negative environmental impact, major online businesses are doubling down in their attempts to increase the sustainability of their industry—and are coming up with innovative solutions.

Environmentally Friendly Logistics

According to research group Statista, consumers globally made more than two billion online purchases in 2021—all of which produced a carbon footprint.

With consumers gravitating towards companies that embrace green logistics, it makes sound business and environmental sense to embrace policies that reduce your CO2 emission levels.

The challenge is to strive for sustainable ecommerce while satisfying demanding consumers. These are some of the ways to achieve these twin goals:

1. Switch to Electric Vehicles and Bicycles for Deliveries

Many major ecommerce enterprises and delivery businesses are updating their fleets with electric or low emissions models.

Amazon, for example, has announced its intention to purchase 100,000 electric delivery vehicles and has pledged that half of its deliveries will be carbon-neutral by 2030.

At the same time, food delivery outfits are increasingly providing their delivery teams with bicycles rather than air-polluting scooters and vans.

2. Invest in Technology

While the future of last-mile carriage may potentially lie in drones and robotic delivery vehicles, artificial intelligence can, in the interim, help you plan the most fuel-efficient routes for pickups, deliveries, and returns.

When it comes to warehousing, an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) can significantly reduce the amount of space required to store inventory.

ASRS systems can also replace fossil-fuel-powered handling equipment. Even better, they operate in the dark —thus saving you electricity and reducing your carbon emissions.

When it comes to warehousing, an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) can significantly reduce the amount of space required to store inventory.

ASRS systems can also replace fossil-fuel-powered handling equipment. Even better, they operate in the dark —thus saving you electricity and reducing your carbon emissions.

3. Reduce Shipping Distances

Instead of storing all inventory in one centralized warehouse, a growing number of ecommerce businesses are creating strings of micro-hubs across urban centers to reduce shipping distances.

From these micro-fulfillment centers, orders can be delivered faster and over shorter distances, thus causing less pollution.

Buying local instead of shipping products over great distances can significantly cut costs, reduce CO2 emissions, and boost your sustainability credentials.

4. Use Eco-friendly Packaging

Numerous studies have shown that consumers are more likely to support retailers that cut back on the use of plastic packaging in favor of compostable, recyclable, or biodegradable materials.

Packaging suppliers are rushing to provide greener alternatives to traditional materials, offering such biodegradables as corn starch peanuts, mushroom cartons, recycled packaging, and mailers, tape, and labels made from plants.

Going Green is Easier than You Think

The steps outlined above will, over time and with considerable investment, help you develop an eco-friendly delivery service. But there are other measures that you can implement more immediately—and without great cost—to boost the sustainability of your operations.

1. Tighten Your Returns Policy

With the surge in online purchases, the volume of returns has increased dramatically, wasting resources such as transportation and packaging.

has shown that product returns in the United States alone generate 15 million tons of carbon emissions per year—equal to that produced by 3 million cars.

Liberal return policies allow shoppers to order multiple sizes or colors of a product, knowing that they can easily return what they don’t like or what doesn’t fit.

While a flexible returns policy is essential for selling online, there are ways to mitigate against such wastage. For example, you can: - Limit the number of size/color options available for online ordering - Charge a small fee if the packaging of a returned item has been rendered unusable - Reduce the period in which customers are allowed to return purchased items.

2. Encourage Recycling

Providing opportunities for customers to drop off their used products for recycling will reduce pressure on landfills. Facilitating services for the repair of damaged goods will encourage customers to get their items fixed rather than buy new ones. These two measures will endear you not only to your customers but also to the planet.

3. Get your Customers on Board

Use social media to encourage your customers to embrace environmentally friendly consumer practices. For example, if they ask for same-day delivery, alert them to the amount of extra CO2 that a single trip for a lone item will generate.

Accompany this information with the question: “Do you really need (this item) so urgently that you can’t wait for an eco-friendlier delivery option tomorrow?”

With the focus now sharply on saving the planet, chances are that your customers will laud your campaign and promote your environmentally friendly logistics to their friends and family.

Everyone Wins With Eco Logistics

In spite of today’s on-demand approach to consumerism and commerce, and the desire to keep up with the associated expectations of your customers, the need to protect our planet should outweigh the whims of the convenience culture.

We all have a duty of care to the environment that nurtures us, and there are ways to exercise that duty while also meeting the more mercenary objectives that drive all businesses.

In ecommerce, the order fulfillment process is an ideal vehicle for applying corporate social responsibility. By embracing eco-logistics, for example, you win, consumers win, and the planet wins.