I did most of my holidays shopping this year online, and I gotta say, it was pretty great. Out with the shopping malls, screaming children, and parking lots, and in with the convenience of one-click purchases, customer reviews, and doing it all the while still in my pajamas. And what made it even sweeter? Free Amazon Prime for students for 6 months. Suddenly, instead of waiting anxiously for a package that could arrive anywhere from a week to two weeks, I would get it in two days. I was sold.
However, as the packages started rolling in, and as the thrill of actually getting something in the mail began to fade, I started noticing how much packaging was being used in transporting these things to my doorstep– bags within crumpled paper balls, within boxes. And then I started thinking about how the UPS driver would have had to drive all the way out to campus, just to leave the package in my mailbox, and how they would have to do this for each of 76% of Canadians that have online shopped in the past year– While I can try to reduce my personal greenhouse gas emissions by buying local produce, walking or biking or taking public transit, and using reusable containers, there simply doesn’t seem to be an option for this in regards to online shopping and ecommerce.
Some argue that the rise of ecommerce could actually be reducing greenhouse gasses in other ways, such as reducing the need for people to drive to brick and mortar stores, but this doesn’t seem to be true as well, as it seems that shoppers still like to go to stores to view items, or to return things. As a result, the rise in online shopping just yields a higher number of cars and trucks on the road and more cardboard and plastic packaging in landfills or recycling plants.
It’s a tough call to make, between convenience and environmental impact. Will I stop buying things online entirely? Not likely. Is this an issue that ecommerce retailers need to address? I’d hope so. Perhaps a problem for innovations such as mushroom packaging or electric self driving cars to shine, but until then, I’ll be thinking twice before hitting “buy” on Amazon checkout.
Interesting train of thought, it amazing me how many possible problems and solutions there are once you start to look for them. For me the main issue with online shopping comes back to the dilemma of convenience. At what point to we, as a society, have to put our own lives or time on the line to be able to achieve sustainability goal. The more problems I see the more I begin to doubt that our consumer driven culture will ever be compatible with the significant changes that will have to be implemented to curtail the damage we are doing on our world. I realize this sounds a little doomsday especially as a comment on packaging from shipping products (which looks to be mostly recyclable at least). It just prompted a scary realization that while I may not ready to give up some of my creature comforts, I just might have to…
Looking at the perspective of the 4Cs, this is an issue of convenience. Of course the company itself could use more sustainable packaging like Mushroom packaging but on the consumer side, this issue lies on the demand for an easy-shopping experience. Companies actively try to make their processes more convenient for their consumers and this business model is the peak of that. It’s interesting to see a type of problem that is almost completely unrealistic to solve on the consumer side and needs to be fixed by the producer.
There had been a lot of times, where I said “please pack it well”. There are even more times I asked for an extra layer of wrapping, either in plastic or paper to better secure the purchase. I remembered that when I was in Hong Kong purchasing one dress shirt. It was well folded and a hard cardboard was placed between the folding to keep the fabric in place. A plastic bag was wrapped over the folded clothes and then the placed in a medium sized paper bag with handles. The cashier also neatly placed another layer of plastic, covering the entire bag. She then used some tape to ensure that the plastic would say in its place, and accompanied me through the doors. At that time, I marvelled at their amazing level of customer service, and I became even more appreciated after the rain started to pour down thirty minutes after I left the store. In no ways is excessive packaging sustainable. Nevertheless, I feel that sometimes, excessive packaging might even be required for certain products, to protect its fragility, delicacy and aesthetic features. Therefore, the new question appears to be how the process can be more standardized, so we can ensure enough packaging is used for needed product categories, and reduce some of the other types of products. This is very connected with the ideology of Zero Waste Market, which aims to reduce packing and associate waste production.
I think the key idea for Amazon and other delivery service company is probably not just about changing their policy on wrapping; it may even involve an addition within the product life cycle. Currently, is stopped at the customer delivery. It may attempt to go a step further, to consider a recycling program with the materials used the redesign its packaging methods.
I really enjoy your topic about shopping packaging usage in e-commerce.
However, from my point of view, e-commerce is more sustainable and green in packaging usage compared to traditional boutique shopping.
For example, luxury fashion industry, launching their e-commerce platform I think is an effective way to let corporate more sustainable.
The first reason is that shopping online is environmentally-friendly since it is convenient and no route needs to be travelled by consumers, in other words online shopping both reduces the risk of environment pollution and is time saving for customers. Another reason is that normally luxury fashion online shopping only sends consumers email with e-receipt rather than giving printed receipt with premium envelope. Moreover, luxury fashion online shopping doesn’t need any complicated packaging process like what physical boutique does, which is a green way to energy conservation.
However, since luxury e-commerce platform has a large potential for luxury fashion brands to perform more social and environmental responsibility, as well as the lack of experience to offer customers with premium feeling and experience, luxury fashion brands still need more time and focus on launching the right positioning strategy in e-commerce.