Ways to Make Your E-commerce Business More Sustainable

With conscious consumerism on the rise, there are simple fixes to ensure your brand stays top of the ethical online shopping list. From reduce and reuse strategies to sustainable materials and packaging improvements, here are our top tips for doing your bit for the planet.

Packaging

Let’s start with the easy wins. Where can you reduce packaging or improve your existing packaging’s sustainability credentials? If it ain’t recyclable or, better still, biodegradable, it can literally and figuratively get in the bin.

Switch plastic protective bags for compostable options. Swap single-use wrappers for recyclable alternatives. Deck your items out in seed paper product wraps, plantable boxes and SeedPrint swing tags to maximise positive environmental impact. That way, when your customers plant their packaging leftovers to grow wildflowers, you’re already starting to offset that carbon footprint. 

Eco product bottles with plantable seed paper labels

Reuse & Recycle

Anything that isn’t recyclable, make it reusable. Relieve single-use plastic guilt by making protective sleeves, bags and packaging durable enough to last for more than just one go.

Emblazon items with, “Please reuse me!” to help plastic dodge landfill. Advise customers to pass on products after use to limit waste. Be an eco-friendly trailblazer by setting up a repurposing store, where pre-loved items can be returned, transformed or repaired for future sales, limiting the environmental impact of manufacturing processes and showing the world you care.  

Avoid Returns

Reduce refunds. It’s a business win and a planet win. Make sure product pictures and descriptions are as detailed and accurate as possible. Clearly list item sizes, specifications and functions to prevent failed purchases and limit unnecessary shipping emissions. Encourage customer reviews with photos to help other buyers understand product quality, fit and benefits before they buy.

Be a first-time-right brand. Errors with orders mean environmental impact, so do everyone a favour and just get it right, yeah?

Product Selection

Let’s talk sustainable products. Are your materials, manufacturing processes and production practices as eco-friendly as possible?

Auditing your supply chain and assessing its ethical, social and environmental stance gives you a gauge on how your business is impacted and how it’s impacted. Could you use more recycled materials? Can you repurpose faulty goods? Are there opportunities to switch to renewable energy sources?

Identify areas for improvement and implement robust action plans to bring your brand closer to its sustainability goals.

Shipping

Ship the eco-friendly way. You’ve got your recyclable, compostable, biodegradable bags and boxes sussed, so you’re already en route to less retail waste. The next step is making packaging smaller and more compact to reduce material and manufacturing requirements, which increases delivery vehicle capacity and further limits environmental impact.

Can you switch to electric vehicle delivery? Most couriers will optimise routes for efficiency, but when you select services that prioritise this, your brand’s delivery runs also cause less environmental damage.  

Offset Your Carbon

How’s your company at carbon offsetting? Start with easy in-house sustainability by improving waste management, upgrading marketing materials to eco-friendly choices and delivering greener events.

Switch business stationery to plantable seed paper options, becoming zero waste with the bonus of improving biodiversity through wildflower growth.

Next, investigate schemes that give back to the planet, helping compensate for unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions. As a company, you can invest in these or offer customers carbon-offsetting options at the checkout, meaning everyone feels like they’re doing their bit.

The bonus of implementing any or—if you’re a massive keeno—all of these improvements is that your customers will see you as a force for good in an industry renowned for a cycle of production, consumption and waste.

Shoppers are becoming increasingly prepared to part with more cash for products from sustainable brands, so be that brand getting those hard-earned quids, knowing you’re making the planet a better place along the way.