With millions of items bought online every year it is no surprise retailers are doing more to drive down the impact of delivering their goods to the consumers. Amy North takes a look
In this modern age of technology everything is available at the click of a button. Long gone are the days when customers had to remove themselves from the comfort of their homes to find food, clothing and all the other things needed to survive.
With online sales now accounting for over 10% of all UK retail sales and with millions of parcels being delivered directly to the customer every year, retailers have to work harder to reduce the environmental impacts of their goods.
The good news is that it appears online retailers are at a distinct advantage over their high street counterparts in the environmental stakes. According to research by the University of Washington using a grocery delivery service can cut CO2 emissions by over 50% when compared with individual household trips to the store. The research was written by Anne Goodchild associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the university and Erica Wygonik, a doctoral candidate in civil and environmental engineering.
Commenting on the findings, Goodchild says: “A lot of times people think they have to inconvenience themselves to be greener, and that actually isn’t the case here.”
Wygonik explains: “What’s good for the bottom line
of the delivery service provider is generally going to be good for the environment, because fuel is such a big contributor to operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Saving fuel saves money, which also saves on emissions.” However, this does not mean retailers can shrug off their responsibilities. One common complaint among consumers is the amount of packaging used to send parcels, and while in some cases it is too much, surely they would complain more if their shiny new toy arrived damaged. Packaging, it seems in this case, is necessary. Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, says it
has developed a software program which determines the right size box for any item based on its weight
and dimensions. This has “dramatically decreased” the number of items delivered in the wrong sized box. Additionally, most orders are dispatched in corrugated containers which are made from 100% recovered fibre content and can be recycled for use in the manufacture of other paper products. However it seems that this does not last throughout its whole supply chain. Amazon receives inventory from vendors across the world on a daily basis. This inventory is traditionally delivered in cardboard boxes but following work with its Earth Kaizen team it says “one out of ten inventory deliveries to our UK fulfilment centres are now dispatched without excess packaging waste” meaning nine out of ten are not. Tesco on the other hand are succeeding at delivering groceries to their customers without any excess packaging, in fact customers have the option to have their goods delivered without carrier bags meaning they can go straight from the van to the kitchen with no waste as they are transferred in reusable green trays. Additionally, in a move which is becoming more common for retailers which operate both on the high street and online, Tesco offers for some items (such as electrical goods) to be ordered online and picked up in store meaning they can be incorporated into a weekly shop. Better packaging also has other benefits as it
means more goods can be transported at one time reducing the amount of vehicles on the road.
Delivery It is all very well reducing the size of the parcel but what about the impact of transporting it to the customer? Stuart Miller, co-founder and chief executive of innovative delivery solution ByBox says more needs to be done to improve the supply chain’s green credentials.
“Online retail has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, but for many, retailers still seem to believe that their responsibility stops when the package leaves the warehouse. In fact, that last delivery leg of the supply chain is arguably the most crucial in terms of customer perception – we all know how frustrating it is to have items delivered late, or to the wrong address, and how that can colour our views of a brand. As such, consumers are now starting to demand flexibility at every stage of the supply chain, and lockers provide the most flexible solution on the market,” Miller says. Described as the “greener delivery option”, ByBox
was founded almost 13 years ago and operates a growing network of 400 locker sites nationwide. These lockers offer consumers the option to have their parcel delivered to a specified site removing the hassle of waiting in for the postman. ByBox works with retailers such as ASOS, Jokers’ Masquerade,
JUNE 2013 | RETAIL ENVIRONMENT 57
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