Online shopping – the ‘Green’ alternative?l
Doing business online, shopping online and ecommerce generally, is surely a more environmentally friendly way of shopping and/or doing business. But is it really as ‘green’ an alternative as it first looks?
That’s the topic of a thought-provoking article published on the UK Independent’s web-site recently.
And eCommerce Report readers will doubtless be interested to know the article’s conclusion...
In this era of global warming and facing the perils of climate change, we are all looking to ‘reduce our carbon footprint’, and minimize our
environmental impact, even ahead of the formal launch of an Australian emissions trading scheme next year.
That’s why we’ve endorsed initiatives such as those of cataloguecentral.com.au, whatsonsale.com.au and lasoo.com.au whose online services all
essentially replace printed catalogues stuffed in our maiboxes.
According to Catalogue Central
- an estimated 8 billion catalogues are distributed annually within Australia
- Each household receives up to 40kg of paper catalogues each year
Indeed we particularly commended Catalogue central because of its efforts through Carbon Planet to ensure its activities are, overall, carbon neutral.
(And we’re pleased to see its new commitment, using elementree, to have a tree planted for each new member introduced to it by existing subscribers.)
Of course, the first and most obvious reason for promoting online shopping as a green alternative is that it cuts the number of visits to shops,
and so the number of travel trips in cars and buses.
According to the Independent, “Each person makes an average of 219 shopping trips by car a year, travelling 1,220km each and emitting 136 grams
of carbon per passenger kilometre.”
But shopping online doesn’t necessarily and automatically mean that consumers will spend less time making shopping related private car travel.
For example, it is quite possible that people may still travel to stores to physically inspect things they plan to buy and then actually buy them
online to take advantage of comparison shopping services.
And, of course, many products bought online will have to be delivered by a freight or parcel courier anyway.
So there may not be as clear a link between shopping online and a reduced carbon footprint as might first be thought.
Online merchants thinking about using their comparative environmental friendliness as the basis of their next marketing campaign ought
probably to bear that in mind.
For more information go to
www.elementree.com.au
www.carbonplanet.com
www.independent.co.uk/news/business/sustainit/wheels-within-wheels-1057572.html
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