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Is The Bar Raising For Last-Mile Sustainability?
Descartes Systems Group’s second annual Home Delivery Sustainability Report finds consumers expect one-third of retailers to publish the carbon footprint of individual deliveries currently and 59 percent to do so within five years.
The survey of 8,000 consumers across nine European countries, Canada and the U.S. found only 43 percent felt retailers were doing a good job employing sustainable delivery practices. The majority were open to combining orders over a period into a single delivery, having the seller recommend the most environmentally friendly delivery option, picking up orders at a store, and slowing down deliveries to make delivery more environmentally friendly.
Twenty-seven percent have stopped shopping at a company due to poor environmental delivery practices.
Brian Kava, CEO of Pickup Now, Inc., wrote in a column for Freight Waves that retailers can improve their last-mile sustainability by tracking sustainability metrics, acting on them, and actively implementing small and large-scale goals.
Smaller-scale initiatives include office adjustments such as using LED bulbs or recycling. Larger ones include utilizing alternative energy sources and electric vehicles for deliveries.
“Additionally, consumers want companies to ‘walk the walk’ for environmental change and are learning to catch on quickly when it’s all talk. This can be a big part of improving a retailer’s brand perception,” he wrote.
Sarah Banks, Accenture’s managing director and global freight & logistics lead, speaking to Supply Chain Digital, cited local fulfillment as a key driver of low-cost, sustainable delivery. “The closer inventory gets to the consumer, the more opportunity for alternative last-mile delivery modes – such as electric vehicle, bicycle, or even pedestrian,” she said.
Other ways Accenture sees retailers becoming more sustainable at the last mile include increased collaboration across the ecosystem, optimizing inventory and route management, and incentivizing greener choices.
“Last-mile must make consumers more aware of the environmental impact of delivery options, and be more transparent by offering greener delivery choices at checkout,” Ms. Banks said.
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What routes do you see to improving last-mile sustainability? Will consumer concerns and actions ultimately have to drive the improvement?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Gene Detroyer
Professor, International Business, Guizhou University of Finance & Economics and University of Sanya, China.
Andrew Blatherwick
Chairman Emeritus, Relex Solutions
The Home Delivery Sustainability Report finds consumers expect one-third of retailers to publish the carbon footprint of individual deliveries currently and 59 percent to do so within five years. Easy to say. I wonder how many will actually pay attention. I question if one-third of consumers even know how to read a carbon footprint.
It strikes me that living in the city is fairly environmentally friendly. Deliveries are made with bicycles pulling carts full of packages. The packages are picked up from one truck and dispersed to the delivery bikes.
My daughter lives in the suburbs and I have noticed Amazon delivery vehicles aren’t making single stops but routing thru her neighborhood on a schedule, dropping off packages at the various houses, not unlike the mailman.
In both instances, these delivery options are more environmentally friendly than each person getting in their car and going to a store to pick up their package. When we have these discussions, it often seems that we ignore the real and environmental cost of shoppers actually going to a store.
Consumers will eventually be the ones that change the direction of home delivery because of their concerns of sustainability, but and it is a big but, will they accept the consequences of it. It is one thing to say when interviewed that they will accept slower deliveries etc but when it comes to the practice will they vote with their feet and use the ones who still deliver quickly. Personally I have been shouting about the need for sustainability for some time, the mantra of faster delivery is a marketing driven demand, people do not need same or next day delivery they need education, is it time for someone to be brave and make their sales pitch that they are slower but better for the environment, I hope so and that it happens soon.
Committing to sustainable practices in a meaningful way and using the term just as a way to greenwash and placate the consumer are two very different things. Delivering products and services to consumers in a truly sustainable manner will require a complete reimagining of the shopping experience. We live in a nano-second world where consumers what immediate gratification. In many respects speed and sustainability are in direct conflict with one another.
There is a tendency in consumer surveys for people to profess great concern about sustainability. However, when it comes to individual decisions they don’t act accordingly. How many would accept slower deliveries, having to pick up at local hubs rather than have delivery to home, would pay higher delivery charges for things like carbon offsets, etc.?
Consolidation of delivery mechanisms seems to be the natural step to last-mile sustainability. It would be ideal if anything delivered to me (home, office, hotel, etc.) came through the same last-mile, reducing traffic, noise, pollution, need to retrieve, time, and of course cost. Ultimately it will be up to consumers to drive the improvement. The question is, will they really do that? Have commuter lanes reduced traffic? Have bike lanes reduced parking lots? Are we building effective mass transit systems in American cities and suburbs? I’m afraid with a few examples the answer to the above is still no.
Ultimately, speed and convenience remain a strong consumer driver, whether last mile options are by bike, ev, drone or regular old gas burning car. Sustainability is a great north star until time is short and something is needed. Most people haven’t accumulated more time in recent years, so the best approach will remain in giving people choices. They’ll decide by their actions whether higher sustainability or speed/greater convenience best suit them.
Improvement begins with making sustainability a priority and recognizing that we don’t have a perfect system in place, but we need to build towards it in the same way we work towards eliminating waste and improving efficiencies.
This issue addresses Corporate Social Responsibility, and is more valuable than ads touting sustainability. It’s not what you say as a company, but how you act.
Consumers have been caring about sustainability and shopping with their beliefs for over a decade now — There are companies created in the last decade whose point of differentiation is sustainability.
Retailers can offer a wide-array of fulfillment options with incentives for the most sustainable.
In my opinion, the concept of sustainability holds significance for individuals who have the means to prioritize it, specifically affluent customers who genuinely value a retailer’s commitment to environmental responsibility. Affluent customers are more likely to be actively interested in environmentally conscious practices compared to individuals from lower-income groups. Consequently, retailers must align their offerings and purchasing experience with the expectations of their target customers, taking into consideration their environmental values.
On the other hand, if retailers are truly committed to incorporating sustainability into their business, it should appear natural rather than superimposed, as “one bad experience can kill the whole idea.” For instance, retailers can leverage their local store networks as fulfillment centers to implement omnichannel initiatives such as “Ship From Store” and “Buy Online Pick-Up In Store.” Within a few miles, local delivery providers can finish the remainder of the fulfillment journey using Electric Vehicles, Bicycles, and so on.
However, most retailers are not caught up on the benefits of omnichannel retail yet. If sustainability is the idea that motivates them to go omnichannel, so be it.