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network of local e-commerce warehouses that allow smaller subject, Wouter is clear about what’s needed; “The goal
online merchants to operate in their local market without with packaging is to deliver the necessary performance
having to invest in their own facility. and brand experience without adding any unnecessary
environmental impact, and wherever possible using expanding
In addition to traditional warehousing services, these new materials that are fully recyclable,” he says.
e-commerce facilities offer fulfilment services such as order
handling and packing and inventory management. This gives Many e-commerce merchants have already switched your website
the benefit of greater scalability. As you grow, the warehouse their packaging. Some have changed to using just one
can grow with you, removing the need to either invest in material to improve recyclability, while others have created
space that’s not needed or make an expensive move to a packaging designed to be reused for returns. Both changes
new facility as your business expands. Local warehouse and can prolong the lifetime of the packaging and save on cross-border?
fulfilment centres also provide sustainability benefits to the valuable resources.
returns process, which we’ll get back to later in this article.
And with packaging even small changes can make an
Into the hands of the consumer impact. For example, many DSV warehouses now use a
From the warehouse, the product needs to make the recyclable paper tape to avoid the use of plastic tape that
journey to the consumer. This last mile delivery has long can’t be recycled. This makes recycling easier and has
been an environmental and societal challenge and is a carbon footprint that’s three times lower than plastic
renowned for being the expensive part – both in terms of tape. Furthermore, many warehouses have taken steps Clonable copies, translates and maintains
cost and emissions. In fact, if we don’t change the way we to eliminate the need for additional labels altogether by
your cross-border websites automatically.
approach last-mile deliveries, we can expect a 32% increase printing barcodes directly on to the packaging.
in carbon emissions from urban delivery traffic by 2030.
Reducing the impact of returns
During the pandemic, as e-commerce sales skyrocketed, But in e-commerce the supply chain doesn’t end when No need to maintain and manually translate
centralized pick off and drop off (PUDO) or buy online the consumer gets their delivery. This is when we get to
every website anymore, that’s on us.
pick up in store (BOPIS) deliveries became more common. one of its most complex parts – returns. Compared with
Since 2021, the number of PUDO points alone has grown brick-and-mortar stores, the rate of e-commerce returns
by 7% each year. From a sustainability perspective, this is is considerably higher. Just 8% of products bought in a
great news because avoiding home deliveries saves on fuel physical store are returned while a whopping 30% of items
emissions and time – as well as the extra emissions caused purchased online are returned with fashion and shoes
by repeat journeys if the consumer is not home. having an even higher rate of return.
The next step many online merchants are taking is to
make people more aware of the last-mile impact of their In many cases retailers can prevent these returns by
purchase. This can be done in various ways. One method putting systems in place to create a better understanding
is to offer shoppers the choice of delivery companies of consumer behaviour. By simply asking consumers why
when they make the purchase and indicate the most they are returning the product, you can make the necessary
environmentally friendly delivery method. Other online improvements. If you know that customers are returning
stores enable individual deliveries to be consolidated into a garment because the colour doesn’t match the product
one parcel to reduce transport emissions. seen online, you can adjust the photograph and description
to prevent future customers making the same mistaken
Since 2015, stores powered by the Shopify e-commerce purchase.
platform can make use of the Carbon Checkout app to
offset the carbon footprint of their orders. During the What’s more, when you consider that almost a quarter of
checkout process, consumers can round up their purchases returns take place because the wrong item was shipped,
and the difference is pooled to fund projects that reduce there’s a strong business case for improving quality control
global carbon emissions. This simple click gives an during the fulfilment process. This doesn’t just save on
easy way to contribute to collective action with every unnecessary and costly transport, labour, and carbon
transaction. What’s more, merchants can match customer emissions, it will also enhance the customer experience.
contributions penny for penny to boost the impact of this
initiative. Now let’s get back to our local warehouse and fulfilment
centres and the benefits they bring to the returns process.
Small changes with a big impact By using more local facilities, you can receive, grade and
For many people, packaging is the first thing that comes process returns close to customers. This enables you to
to mind when they consider the environmental impact of consolidate your returns instead of sending products over
their online shopping. This is what they see, touch, and long distances to be graded and sent out again from a
Ready for lift-off?
often dispose of when they receive their goods. On this central location.
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