Many e-commerce businesses proudly provide consumers with environmentally-sustainable products that genuinely make a difference. Still, you don’t have to stop at the product level because you can go green with so much more – shipping too. Interested in learning exactly how? Keep reading.
A complete action item list can be found in your ultimate guide to shipping green for e-commerce businesses.
1. Product lifecycle for eco-friendly businesses
The best eco-friendly businesses deliver on what they promise consumers, and that commitment should include the product’s lifecycle from start to finish:
- Start with genuine, environmentally-sustainable materials to attract consumers’ attention
- Try to appeal to people who want to do their part to help the environment
- Stay away from single-use items with short lifecycles
- Test for quality and durability
- Plan ahead for the product’s end of life and recyclability
With these action items covered, you can feel confident to market your company to eco-friendly consumers, and it's easier to stand out in a crowded industry.
2. Minimizing returns with clear product information
The next step to green shipping is to minimize returns, but how exactly do you do that? What do you need to take into account to keep eco-friendly consumers interested in your products?
- Understand that returns are a fact of e-commerce life. It could also be a signal that you could improve how you set customer expectations and communicate with your customers
- Stay ahead of returns with clear and accurate descriptions of the product’s best features
- Use HD photos to show what your product will actually look like
Be clear and concise about your products.
If you are interested in exploring this topic further, check out our guide to minimizing e-commerce returns.
3. Order fulfillment as an opportunity
Now, we come to order fulfillment – a real opportunity to impress consumers with eco-friendly packaging and exceed customer expectations. Here are a few quick tips:
- Use recyclable materials for packaging
- Stay away from plastics
- Use packages that fit the products
- Eliminate excess filler in the boxes
- Provide clear disposal instructions
- Include on-brand instructions and other extras
Order fulfillment is a great opportunity to promote your commitment to environmental sustainability and show consumers how genuine you are by providing recyclable or easily disposed of packaging. More tips on order fulfillment: How to make order fulfillment your competitive advantage
4. Optimizing the supply chain with sustainability in mind
The last way to ship green is to optimize the supply chain and logistics with sustainability in mind, but what does that mean exactly? Today, the supply chain spans the globe, so what’s the best way to stay environmentally conscious? The answer is to speed up shipping by keeping products close to the consumer with multi-warehousing.
Multi-warehousing shortens the distance and the time it takes for products to reach consumers, yet you have to do it the right way to benefit the most.
Check out the complete ultimate e-commerce guide to shipping green to learn more about how you can go green with shipping.
Comments