How to make your business more sustainable?

Sustainability can be defined as addressing one’s own needs without endangering future generations’ capacity to meet their own.

Some of these practices include eco-friendly packing and shipping, which may assist their bottom line while ensuring that items are safe in transportation and do not linger in landfills for thousands of years. So not only are we guaranteeing sustainability in delivery, but we are also offering more sustainable items, allowing consumers to buy ecological and fair products in e-commerce.

The environment gains from resource sustainability, labor exploitation in low-cost producer countries reduced, and you, as a retailer, remain competitive. As a result, the demand for ecologically friendly items rises, with 35% of all customers prepared to pay more for green products.

Green eCommerce sustainability involves every process, activity, and function of the whole business’s operations. Therefore, a company will not be able to undertake a few tweaks and declare that it has attained long-term viability. Instead, a company should be ready to apply the aforementioned critical self-analysis, honesty, creativity, and risk management principles to all processes, activities, and functions.

Making your eCommerce business more environmentally friendly not only minimizes your environmental effect but also helps you appeal to more ecologically conscious customers: According to 2019 research, 80% of customers in North America, Europe, and Asia believe that corporations should create environmentally conscious products because it is “essential or imperative.” In addition, consumers with specific preferences are more inclined to support brands that adopt environmentally friendly practices.

Make your shipping eco-friendly

One of the simplest methods to lessen your environmental effect is to make your shipping process more sustainable.

When choosing boxes and packing materials, look for recycled or sustainable options.

Whenever possible, ship in bulk.
Customers should be encouraged to reuse or return any product containers
Consider using UPS’ carbon-neutral shipping option, which allows you to pay a small per-package cost to assist initiatives that offset the emissions caused by your shipment’s transportation. (If you like, you may provide a checkout option for consumers to pay the offset charges.)
Reduce waste by using email-only receipts and paperless invoicing, available from FedEx, UPS, and USPS.

Reduce returns

Returns and exchanges account for significant transportation emissions, shipping costs, and waste. Here are a few strategies for lowering the number of returns your eCommerce store receives:
Online, provide detailed information about your items. (Detailed descriptions, accurate measurements, and high-quality images assist clients in understanding what they’re getting, minimizing the chances that the things they get aren’t what they expected.)

Implement restrictions that make it difficult for clients to place large orders with the idea of returning part of the items. (For example, instead of allowing orders in numerous sizes, consider permitting just one order of a particular clothing item at a time.)

Customers who want to skip the return option will receive a slight discount.

Add green products to your stock

Depending on the items you offer, you may have a good chance of partnering with manufacturers or suppliers who follow sustainable practices (and advertise your business as a seller of sustainable products).

Look for goods to offer that are reusable or come in environmentally friendly packaging and, in the case of food, are created with organic or cruelty-free ingredients. Also, consider selling LED lights or compost bins in your eCommerce store to assist your consumers in lessening their environmental impact.

Also, strive to cut down on the number of items you sell that must be imported from afar. Instead, buy things (in quantity) from local manufacturers, suppliers, and producers whenever feasible.

Recycle and reduce energy waste

It’s not only about your customer-facing goods and practices for being sustainable. It also has to do with how you operate your company.

It’s critical to ensure that your company has a recycling policy and that all staff are educated to follow it. Investing in low-energy lighting, unplugging devices when not in use, using recycled office supplies, and keeping workplace temps low can all help to reduce energy use (and should be part of your office policies).

Consider a commercial energy audit if you’re particularly worried about your electricity usage: Your energy supplier or a private firm could be ready to examine your energy usage and suggest strategies to save money.