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Peek into the future of sustainable online shopping
Consumption patterns have been significantly changing in the past years – not only due the pandemic. We shop online more, also taking account of other factors, such as where our products come from, businesses’ corporate social responsibility, and impacts our purchases have. Consequently, online stores that steer their operations towards sustainability gradually gain a competitive advantage. But how can we identify them and why should we buy from them?
We have grown accustomed to shopping online more, particularly during the peaking Covid-19 pandemic. However, it is interesting that consumers still remain invested in sustainability, in spite of the difficult circumstances that currently prevail. On the contrary, consumer demands for sustainability of not only products, but also businesses themselves, continue to increase. It is apparent from a survey conducted by APEK (Association for E-commerce) that consumers are often willing to pay more for sustainable options. In fact, one-fifth of all respondents consider whether or not an online store is sustainable in connection with their purchasing decisions. Due to consumer pressures, sustainability has been becoming an integral part of online shopping.
Businesses that catch the sustainability wave right from the start and integrate sustainability principles in their operations will gain a major competitive advantage and attract more customers. Moreover, they can reduce their costs and generate higher returns. How is this possible? Think about implementing circular packaging and containers that reduce cost of production of new packaging or containers, using renewable energy sources or reducing wastage of inputs, just to name a few. Responsible online stores are not only motivated by offsetting or preventing impacts of their operations, but also by cost reductions.
However, sustainability does not only include environmental aspects. Responsible online stores pay attention to other areas, such as safe working conditions for their employees, decent treatment of staff and adequate remuneration, fair dealings and compliance with the relevant conditions throughout their supply chains, support of local communities and promotion of transparency.
There are many factors that determine whether or not an online store is sustainable. It is thus not easy for customers to cope with the associated information overload. A new project, “Udržitelný e-shop” (“Sustainable online store”) will help you identify online stores that are truly sustainable. We have joined forces with Visa, Heureka, and Association of Social Responsibility to create a unique methodology that can determine the level of sustainability of individual online stores. In order to recognize online stores that prove to be sustainable, a special “Udržitelný e-shop” logo was designed, which will be assigned to sustainable online stores at heureka.cz. This will allow you to identify these online stores right away.
If you find the concept interesting – either as a consumer or an online store – please visit udrzitelnyeshop.cz or listen to the “LOOPA Vojty Kovala” podcast at Spotify or Apple Podcasts that is dedicated to the project.
This article has been prepared in collaboration with CIRA Advisory.