E-commerce Makes the High Street 'Green' With Envy

If you sell items popularly bought as gifts, e-commerce might just be the way to boost your sales figures and ‘green’ credentials at the same time.

E-commerce continues to expand in spite of the recession and poor spending figures on the high street, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, with current online retail revenue up 13% on 2008. Sales of gifts, including beers, wines and spirits have done particularly well, with Valentine’s Day creating a noticeable peak in spending.

It has also been reported, this time by the Logistics Research Centre at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, that shopping online and having items delivered to your door is often more environmentally friendly than travelling by private, or even public transport to pick up items in person.

The research focused on the “last mile” of delivery for small goods such as CDs, cameras, books and other items for around the home. It found that 181g CO2 was produced by a typical van-based home delivery, compared to 4,274g CO2 for travel to and from the shops by car. Meanwhile, an average bus trip by a shopper produced a 1,265g carbon footprint. In short, if a customer travels by car and buys fewer than 24 small, non-food items per trip, or fewer than 7 items when travelling by bus, home delivery is more environmentally-friendly.

The director of Logistic Research Centre, Prof. Alan McKinnon was keen to point out that neither online or off-line retail has an absolute advantage over the other when it comes to carbon emissions. Grouping multiple activities into single trips and multiple items into single deliveries are equally effective ways of minimising environmental impact that shoppers can use.

If you have an e-commerce site already, considering posting this information as useful hints and tips; offer to group multiple orders into single deliveries where possible to attract environmentally-minded customers. For those retailers who have a market share in gifts and don't already have an e-commerce site, it's safe to say they're going to become essential if trends continue of their overall path, and could turn out to be much more than just the saviour of your business, but a catalyst to growth.