NEWS

The urgency

You may have already heard about it, but the European Commission is moving up a level in terms of requiring companies to commit to sustainability. Beginning in 2025, either publicly traded organizations or organizations with more than 500 employees must submit a sustainability report (CSRD) showing what concrete measures were taken in 2024 in terms of sustainability. A year later, companies that either achieved a turnover of 40 million euros, or have 20 million euros on their balance sheet or employ at least 250 people will follow. SMEs may follow by 2028. More information can be found on the nbn.be website.

So there is no escape: whether you are a large or small organization, you will have to do your part and make your operations more sustainable.

Committing to sustainability obviously goes far beyond just eCommerce. But in this article, we want to get you started anyway to address this part of your business.

What does sustainability mean?

Sustainable business means that as a company you take responsibility for the effect of your business activities on your environment. Broadly speaking, these effects can be divided into three categories: effect on the environment (e.g. economical use of raw materials, damage caused by emissions), social responsibility (correct remuneration, support of good causes) and financial health (is the business operation financially sustainable?).

Are consumers awake to sustainability?

Yes it does. A study by Sendcloud (Europe’s No. 1 shipping software) found that 44% of Belgians are concerned of the impact of online shopping on the environment.

But then again, neither are they? The question, of course, is how hard is this on consumers? Will consumers be willing to pay more for eCommerce for the sake of sustainability? Will consumers be willing to experience less eCommerce “convenience” (e.g., home delivery) for the sake of sustainability? That all remains to be seen.

But policy has turned the corner … so you, the entrepreneur, and the consumer will have to pivot with it.

Parcel delivery as No. 1 trigger for sustainable eCommerce

It goes without saying: transporting your goods to the customer is the most polluting component of your eCommerce ecosystem. An Ernst & Young study compared four scenarios: classic shopping, home delivery, delivery at a pickup point and drop-off delivery.

Logically, all delivery options that require the customer to use a car themselves are the most polluting options. With a home delivery, of course, there is also a truck or van (your own or package delivery company’s), but because it allows you to generate more scale for transportation, the carbon footprint of this transportation is spread over multiple orders, where one customer with one car bears the entire carbon footprint. So no economy of scale.

Delivery by bicycle courier is even more very rare in eCommerce country, because entrepreneurs often approach this from the concept of wharehouse2home and this is often unfeasible. However, the combination of delivery to a central drop-off point (e.g. on the outskirts of the city) and subsequent delivery by bicycle appears to be the most sustainable solution. The customer can also choose to pick up his or her goods at the drop-off point by bicycle or on foot.

Tips:

• Offer as many delivery options as possible, including the exotic(s).
• Let the customer choose how they want to be delivered, it will often be the most efficient and if the customer values sustainability, the most sustainable.
• Provided you offer enough options, feel free to charge extra for the more polluting options (if you then use these funds for sustainable initiatives). This will cause the customer to shift to more sustainable options anyway.
• Provide options for the customer to offset the carbon emissions of his/her delivery when ordering via an additional charge.
• Be sure to check out the website of Homerr, a transportation company committed to sustainable shipping.

No-shows

The carbon footprint of a delivery multiplies by a no-show delivery: the customer is not at home and cannot take delivery of the parcel. A new delivery is necessary or the customer must then take the car to a pickup point nearby anyway.

But this too can be easily avoided:

• Offer the customer a time for delivery when ordering. Also indicate that if no-show at delivery appointment, an additional charge will be made for the new delivery.
• Use a correct track & trace! Indicating that a package will be delivered sometime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. is a harbinger of no-show. Be sure to check out Trimble’s website.
• Offer customer the option when ordering to leave the package at/around your home in case of no-show (do take a photo for proof).
• When ordering, offer the customer the option to deliver the package to a neighbor in case of no-show. You may consider asking for a concrete address of the neighbor as well.
• Send an automatic text message when the package will be delivered within the hour.
• Give the customer the option to still change the delivery time and place up to 24h before initially scheduled delivery.

Returns are killing sustainability … but also your margin!

A return actually triples your carbon footprint: initial shipping, return shipping and hopefully new purchase shipping.

A return also means initial packaging, return packaging, handling of the opened packaging and hopefully packaging of the new purchase.

Avoiding returns in all areas is an absolute necessity for eCommerce:

• Be intentional about which products you offer returns for and which products you don’t … and communicate this transparently as well. You don’t have to offer (free) returns on your entire offering.
• Make sure your product description and performance is outstanding: correct and correctly written brand name, correct color, correct size/weight/material, necessary documents (manual, warranty).
• Media: the more images and video presenting a product, the clearer the product will be to the customer. Above all, the images and video should be qualitative: no blurry stuff!
• Product-level customer reviews. The majority of consumers say they rely on reviews from other buyers when purchasing a product.
• Indicate reasons for return. This sounds a bit counterproductive, but a return can never be ruled out. Only … by stating these return reasons, you prevent other customers from making the same mis-sale.
• Provide competitive, stable pricing. If a consumer close to receiving product suddenly notices that you have priced the product lower, or finds a lot cheaper elsewhere, they will more easily return the product and repurchase elsewhere.
• Develop a clear and transparent return policy and give it a primary place in your eCommerce environment.
• Respect the delivery time. Customers who have to wait too long for their product will meanwhile buy the product elsewhere and return it to you.

Packaging

Packaging also creates a fairly large footprint. Far too much packaging actually just transports air, fancy packaging (e.g. plastics) is just polluting. 58% of Belgian consumers believe that too much packaging material is used to ship orders. (cfr. Sendcloud).

Tell yourself: how many mega-boxes from Coolblue, Bol or others have you already put in the garbage?

Some adjustments seem obvious:

• Use of recyclable material
• Use of biodegradable material
• Packaging tailored to the product

But more can be done:

• Have your customers return empty containers (for reuse) via mail in exchange for an additional discount code
• Just don’t use packaging. Deliver the product naked (maybe minimal bubble wrap).
• Minimize padding material within your packaging.
• Ask your customer for an eco-charge for packaging, but then also give the option to choose delivery without packaging.

Hosting & infrastructure

You may not have known it, but ICT in Europe emits more CO2 than aviation. (cfr. Knack ) And this will only increase in the future.

So this includes website and platform hosting. And since platform hosting is the basis for eCommerce, this seems an obvious one to address.

A little Googling and you will undoubtedly find quite a few hosting parties that are betting on green hosting today.

Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility

As an eCommerce company, you can also simply actively contribute to a more sustainable world: supporting charities, investing in climate initiatives, anchoring locally in the social fabric, etc.

Tip: did you know that you can have your 404 (error) page from your website replaced with a notfound page from Child Focus and thus actively help locate missing children?

Company culture

As an eCommerce company, you may have staff, work with suppliers and develop partnerships. Again, you can register sustainability:

• Develop employees through relevant training programs
• Burnout prevention
• Correct remuneration and payment
• Inclusive human resources policy
• Electrification of your business fleet
• Use of green energy

By the way, entrepreneurial organization VOKA offers an audit and label to embed sustainability in your business.

Improve the accessibility of your platform

As of June 28, 2025, every company in the European Union is required to address accessibility for consumers with disabilities. As digital services and products play an increasingly important role in our society and economy, they are especially scrutinized, including your webshop, white papers or online service platform.

These regulations are part of the European Union’s direction to make eCommerce more sustainable.

Be sure to read this article on how to improve the accessibility of your platform.

Related articles

• Mandatory commitment to accessibility for eCommerce – European Accessibility Act24 August 2024
• Making eCommerce more sustainable! A requirement for every business by 202818 August 2024