Sustainability is a word on the lips of the nation at the moment, as public interest in – and concern over – the climate crisis continues to rise. Sustainable practices have started to influence products and consumer trends alike, as consumers shift away from single-use plastics and wasteful purchasing. As a new e-commerce business, how can you meet consumer demand, and your own obligations, for sustainability?
E-Commerce and the Environment
First, it is important to illustrate just how impactful modern consumer society – fuelled by rampant technological innovation and logistical expansion – is on the environment. The incalculable success of online businesses and delivery-based services has created an entirely new subsection of an already-vast retail market, which threatens to outpace the market in which it was developed.
This pace not only quickens the consumption of conventional materials and renewable energies, as new businesses rise to compete with pre-existing brick-and-mortar enterprises, but also introduces new channels of consumption altogether.
On a base level, e-commerce has multiplied carbon emissions through transport – whether the supply of goods from manufacturers to warehouses and fulfilment centres, or the last-mile delivery of mainstream logistics businesses like Evri.
Meanwhile, both consumer appetite for ‘fast’ items and infrastructural demand for tools and equipment have fed a global manufacturing spree, which is responsible for polluting via mining for rare earth minerals and producing waste greenhouse gases. Simply put, the pace of consumption is unsustainable, and e-commerce businesses have a key role to play in facilitating this consumption.
Reasons to Invest in Sustainable Marketing
As an emerging e-commerce business, it is more important than ever that you turn your focus to sustainable alternatives in an otherwise wasteful and pollutive industry. There is a moral argument to make regarding this, as small businesses shoulder a larger proportion of responsibility than individuals in relation to carbon emissions and ‘footprints’.
However, there are also pragmatic arguments to be made. For one, public attitude has been shifting towards sustainability for some time – to the point that a meaningful volume of prospective consumers might actively avoid businesses failing to do their part for the environment. Meanwhile, government legislation will only crack down further on pollutive practices and sustainability requirements on businesses, making any shift to sustainability a pro-active move legally speaking.
Solutions for the Emerging Retailer
But what exactly can you do to address sustainability in your business? As the vast majority of e-commerce businesses are logistical in nature, whether sourcing pre-existing manufacturers or simply drop-shipping bulk produce, much of the direct environmental impact comes from relationships with other businesses. A same-day courier might be a more sustainable option than other national haulage businesses, owing to the spread of logistics hubs reducing the carbon cost of each individual delivery.
Another fundamental change comes through reviewing the products you offer as an online business. Fast fashion, single-use plastics and mass-manufactured items with low profit margins are falling out of favour with numerous demographics, where products manufactured with sustainably-sourced materials are growing in popularity.