E-commerce Firms Need to Address Packaging and Environmental Issues Swiftly: Augusto Beato

The e-commerce industry needs to come up with sustainable packaging designs to minimize the impact on the environment, said Augusto Beato, CEO of Portland SEO.

Beato was reacting to a comment by an executive at an e-commerce conference this year that those who are concerned with the environment should not be shopping by e-commerce. "The dilemma for e-commerce firms is that while they should avoid damage, breakage, and spills while delivering goods, they are also often criticized for using too much packaging on their shipments," Beato pointed out.

In the case of damages to food shipments, it negates growing, harvesting, processing, and shipping—everything is lost. On the other hand, damages on non-food items cause the return and refilling and reshipping of the order have more impact on the environment than the overpacking.

With 95 percent of consumers believing packaging significantly influences their online purchase experience, and 49 percent sharing their online experiences on social media, brands have to be aware of their supply chain’s effect on the environment.

The report “E-commerce 2018: Think Inside the Box,” from PMMI Business Intelligence, reveals that while 23 percent of consumer packaged goods manufacturers polled reported designing packaging to be reused, repurposed or returned by the consumer, the majority do not.

Beato noted that e-commerce packaging is now presenting many business opportunities for those who are entrepreneurial enough to come up with a solution. A good example is LivingPackets, which fancies itself as a revolutionary, sustainable and trackable shipping box that generates almost zero packaging waste.

It is supposedly reusable up to 1,000 and features real-time environmental monitoring, an automatic holding system that eliminates filling materials such as bubble-wrap which requires hundreds of years to decompose in landfills. But it remains to be seen if this is the solution the e-commerce industry is looking for, avers Beato.

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