Intelligence and community for the low-carbon commerce era
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Intelligence and community for the low-carbon commerce era
Descartes Systems Group Inc. has released its 2nd Annual Home Delivery Sustainability Study, which highlights the increasing importance of sustainability in home delivery and how retailers can meet consumers’ expectations. The report is based on a survey of more than 3,000 consumers across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Takeaways:
One of the key findings of the report is that consumers are increasingly interested in receiving deliveries using more environmentally friendly delivery methods. The top choice for consumers was 100% carbon neutral delivery services, with 60% of respondents indicating that they were quite or very interested in this option. Other popular options included combining orders and delivering them at the end of the week (59%) and having the seller recommend the most environmentally friendly delivery option (56%). All options presented in the 2022 and 2023 surveys were up substantially.
The report also found that consumers increasingly expect retailers to publish the carbon footprint of individual deliveries. Today, 33% of respondents expect a published carbon footprint for deliveries, up from 30% in 2022.
The report also found that while retailers are performing better than in 2022, with 43% of consumers believing that retailers are meeting their expectations for sustainable home delivery, the majority of consumers (57%) still believe that retailers have a long way to go.
To meet these expectations, the report recommends that retailers focus on improving delivery density and efficiency, reducing delivery costs, and providing consumers with more information about the environmental impact of their purchases. This can be achieved through a range of initiatives, including the use of ground transportation where possible, the consolidation of deliveries, and adopting more sustainable packaging.
The full study is available from Descartes Systems Group here.
