Exploring the importance of sustainable delivery practices, including eco-friendly packaging, electric vehicles, maximizing delivery vehicle capacity, and route optimization software.
Technology has become a crucial component of business operations because customers have less patience and want their orders as soon as possible. However, there is good reason for the growing concern that consumers are showing regarding the global warming. According to an EIA study, 74% of all US GHG emissions in 2019 came from fuel emissions.
People are concerned about the environment, and 66 percent of survey participants told McKinsey & Co. that they think about sustainability before making a purchase because they are aware that packaging and shipping can have an adverse effect on the environment. As a result, they anticipate businesses to pledge to protect the environment and provide sustainable solutions.
We’ll outline a few options for businesses to provide environmentally friendly deliveries in this post. But before we do that, let’s quickly go over why it’s critical for your business to adopt greener practices.
Why companies are looking for more sustainable ways to ship orders
Before purchasing a company’s goods, consumers frequently consider its environmental impact. In fact, consumers often view eco-friendly businesses as superior to those that are not because they believe that brands are also responsible for bringing about a better environment.
Even though the transition to more environmentally friendly products and practices presents challenges for businesses, more of them are aiming to lower their carbon footprint. Here are some different ways you can increase the sustainability of your deliveries.
Given that packaging is typically made of materials like plastic, you should take a closer look at it if you want your business to be more environmentally friendly. Plastic is a significant environmental problem, as is evident from the fact that 14.5 million tons of plastic were produced in 2018. People are ordering goods online much more frequently as a result of COVID-19 and lockdowns, especially food, which frequently comes in plastic boxes, which significantly increases plastic consumption.
However, a FreightWaves survey found that 81 percent of customers believe that companies use excessive packaging when shipping products and that 74 percent of customers feel packaging materials have a moderate to high impact on sustainability.
As a result, you should begin considering more environmentally friendly packaging options for your goods. You could, for instance, use boxes made of renewable materials to cut down on carbon emissions. Typically, bamboo is used as a biodegradable material because it will naturally break down.
Some businesses now use 100% recycled corrugated cardboard instead of plastic bubble-wrap packaging. It offers protection comparable to bubble wrap while being made entirely of recyclable materials.
Although they are made of plastic, air pillows can also be an effective way to protect deliveries because they are primarily filled with air, which uses less plastic than other types of pillows.
There are also organic packaging materials made of seaweed, mushrooms, or cornstarch. This will prevent agricultural waste while reducing plastic use for deliveries.
More businesses have started using electric vehicles to cut down on fuel emissions. Sales of EVs hit a record high in 2020, and as people’s concerns about climate change grow, this trend is likely to continue in the years to come.
This is why companies like Amazon have started looking at electric vehicles as a way to minimize fuel emissions. The business has already begun testing its 100,000 electric vehicles on delivery routes.
Amazon is not the only business that has switched to electric vehicles. Similar to how Uber, Walmart, Unilever, Google, FedEx, and other businesses have tested electric vehicles for deliveries, many other corporations have done the same. The majority of them have pledged to convert their fleet to all-electric operation by the 2030s and to achieve net-zero emissions by the 2040s.
Delivery vans typically don’t travel very far each day, which helps to keep their cost down because they don’t need large battery packs. As a result, it not only protects the environment but also offers the possibility of cost savings.
To avoid wasting too much space when packing orders, choose packages that fit your products well. When they could have been packed in smaller ones, many orders are delivered in large boxes. By reducing box size, waste can be avoided while also saving money.
You should fill your trucks to capacity in order to maximize capacity so that your drivers can deliver more orders in a single trip.
As a result, not only will you reduce your carbon footprint, but you’ll also increase customer satisfaction because they’ll get their goods faster and shipping costs will be lower.
Another way to reduce your company’s carbon footprint is to optimize drivers’ time on the road by making sure they are always on the fastest route. With an intelligent route builder, you will be able to create delivery routes in real time in a matter of seconds.
Your drivers can do this to efficiently plan stops and avoid traffic so that there is no downtime in between deliveries. In addition to lowering fuel emissions, shorter trips will delight customers by delivering their orders more quickly. By delivering more orders and covering fewer miles, your drivers will be able to maximize profits while lowering your carbon footprint.
You must pick the best delivery software like EasyRoutes if you want to effectively optimize your routes. No matter how many deliveries are planned, the model you choose should have a potent route builder that can efficiently create complex routes.
EasyRoutes is a feature-rich route planner and local delivery manager for Shopify that comes with all the equipment you need to deliver your own orders. Planning local delivery routes, controlling and allocating drivers, and informing customers with tracking pages, delivery notifications, and proof of delivery are all possible.
Shopify and your orders are seamlessly integrated with EasyRoutes. That implies that your orders will be there waiting to be added to local delivery routes as soon as you open our app. Spreadsheet exporting and importing are no longer necessary.
Streamline each step of your delivery processes, and inform your clients when their orders will be delivered. Unlike Circuit, Routific, and other route planners, EasyRoutes is the only all-in-one route planning and local delivery management app that is completely integrated with Shopify. With your new local delivery superpowers, you can save time and delight your customers.
EasyRoutes will walk you through the remaining steps after you’ve chosen which orders need to be delivered. With itemized inventories, you can quickly generate optimized local delivery routes. Never before has planning a route been so simple and quick.
Share your local delivery routes with your drivers once you’ve reviewed them so they can use our mobile driver app for iOS and Android to find their stops, attach proof of delivery, and mark orders as delivered—all of which are synced to your Shopify Orders.
Learn more about EasyRoutes or install the EasyRoutes local delivery app from the Shopify App Store to move in an eco-friendly direction today!
Roundtrip's mission is to equip every business with the software tools they need to deliver products to their customers in a delightful way. Thousands of Shopify merchants worldwide choose EasyRoutes to power their local deliveries across dozens of product categories, from meal kits and groceries to coffee, cupcakes, kibble, and so much more. Our easy-to-use route planning and delivery optimization app is certified Built for Shopify, a two-time Shopify staff pick, and the top rated local delivery app on the Shopify App Store.
