When many people think about making a business more sustainable, they often don’t know where to start. That’s especially true with an eCommerce company. Since there’s a lack of premises and other aspects that typically drive an environmental impact, figuring things out is more complicated. You could believe that an eCommerce brand is sustainable by nature.
As a result, you might think that you can’t make sustainable changes. That isn’t the case. Once you know how to make your eCommerce business more sustainable, things will be much more obvious. There’s a variety of ways that every company can become more sustainable, eCommerce or not. Using a few of them can have more of an impact than you’d think.
Why Is Sustainability Important In eCommerce?
Sustainability is important in eCommerce for more than a few reasons. One of the most notable is that it’s important to customers.
They want to know that the products and services they use don’t have a negative impact on the environment. Few people want to contribute to climate change, so they act to minimise it.
That’s seen more and more in who they buy from. Should your eCommerce brand not be sustainable, it’s unlikely to grow long-term.
By failing to excel at this, you restrict your company extensively and lock yourself out of a core demographic.
How To Make Your eCommerce Business More Sustainable The Smart Way
Implement Green Practices
Figuring out how to make your eCommerce business more sustainable isn’t solely about your products. You’ll also need to have green business practices.
There are more than a few ways that you can do this. Recent years have shown how effective remote working can be, making it a viable option for employees.
87% of consumers want brands to act now to encourage future sustainability.
– Independent study commissioned by SmartestEnergy
Having recycling initiatives, using sustainable materials, and multiple other initiatives can be recommended. Making these company-wide should be a priority.
Source Local Suppliers
As an eCommerce company, you’ll likely work with multiple suppliers. These can range from a WordPress Maintenance Service and other IT professionals to designers and copywriters.
You’ll also need to source the materials for your products. When you’re choosing these, it’s recommended that you pick someone local.
The less distance your materials have to travel to get to you, the fewer emissions will be released. That’ll make your eCommerce store more sustainable from the start.
The same can also be said for your deliveries. Your carbon footprint will be one of the larger factors to consider when you’re looking at this.
Taking this approach could also mean reducing the costs associated with your materials and delivery. There’s no reason not to take this approach.
Choosing local suppliers for as much as possible will minimise much of your carbon footprint.
Focus On Packaging
When it comes to making an eCommerce store more sustainable, your packing is likely the first thing you’ll think of. It could be the first thing you’ll focus on changing.
Making this as sustainable, renewable, and recyclable as possible is vital. Once your product has been delivered, the packaging will be thrown out almost instantly.
As a result, keeping it environmentally friendly should be a focus. Using a minimal amount of packaging is recommended. You may need to spend a certain amount of time balancing this. You’ll still need to keep your products secure and damage-free during delivery, after all.
Putting the time and effort into this is vital. It’s also worth avoiding the use of harmful materials in your packaging, such as plastics.
Evaluate Your Materials
One of the more obvious ways to improve your eCommerce company’s sustainability is with the materials you use. That’s especially true in the products themselves. Plastics, for example, aren’t recommended for multiple reasons. Switching to something more biodegradable can be a more appealing option.
The more renewable these are, the better. When you’re taking this approach, you should also look at the less obvious parts of your products.
Even the smaller areas could be made with a renewable material. Minimising waste throughout the production of your products should also be a priority. If possible, it could be worth looking into whether waste materials can be reused in some capacity. That’ll not only improve your sustainability but also reduce your costs.
How To Make Your eCommerce Business More Sustainable: Wrapping Up
If you don’t know how to make your eCommerce business more sustainable, you could have more of an environmental impact than you’d think. Nobody wants that.
Implementing each of the above strategies and tips can be quite effective. Adapting them to your company is more than recommended.
You might also enjoy reading…
In the modern age of authenticity and transparency, consumers are no longer content with brands that are dismissive of, or even apathetic to sustainability. Brands are now expected to take action and be proactive when it comes to matters such as climate change, carbon footprints and employee welfare. Sustainable Marketing delivers the new benchmark for modern marketing. This book clarifies the importance of the sustainable approach before providing a comprehensive guide to implementing, driving and maintaining these practices in any organisation.
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The impact that they’ll have will be more than worth it.
