Think Twice Before You Order Online

20

September

2021

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More and more people are buying products online. With the COVID-19 pandemic, this trend only increased. Online retail sales in 2020 increased with 32,4% compared to 2019 [1]. Statista estimated that in 2021, more than 2.1 billion people worldwide are shopping online [2]. E-commerce has a lot of advantages for both consumers and retailers. Retailers can reach more consumers and those consumers have the convenience of ordering products without leaving their homes. But how does online shopping affect the environment?

If you look at the basic principles, online shopping is more environmentally friendly than buying products in a store. The main reason for this is that individuals don’t have to drive to stores to get their products [3], but that they are being delivered by vans which can optimize their routes for other customers. Next to that, less physical stores also mean less energy needed to power those buildings.

However, online shopping is not all rainbows and sunshine. The last years, retailers have focused on improving their last-mile delivery – the journey from the store or distribution center to the customer. Free shipping or same day delivery are being offered by more and more retailers nowadays. This rat race to make online shopping as convenient as possible, has a negative environmental impact. Customers order fewer items per online transaction leading to more shipment movements. Also, multi-item orders are often split because they have to be shipped from multiple stores or distribution centers and shipping via e-commerce requires additional packing [3]. Returns make things even worse. More than 30% of products bought online are returned, compared to just 9% in physical stores [4]. This new style of shopping not only leads to more parcels that need to be shipped back, but it also causes unnecessary waste of unused and undamaged products. Reports show that over 25% of returns are destroyed immediately, especially within the clothing industry [5]. Amazon destroys millions of items in their UK warehouses each year [6]. It’s often cheaper for companies to just destroy the returns instead of sorting out what’s wrong and repacking them, but the environment is paying the price.

Of course, you can still order products online. And if you keep some simple things in mind you can still have a smaller environmental impact compared to physical shopping. Below you can find some of these remarks, but feel free to add additional ones in the comments!

  • If you can buy your product in a physical store which you can reach walking or cycling, just go to the store.
  • If you’re unsure if the size is correct or if you want to keep the product, go to a physical store and find out.
  • Try to bundle your (future) purchases in one order.

References

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Will malls and retail shops soon disappear?

27

September

2017

5/5 (2)

After America’s most popular department store Macy’s announced that it would shut down 100 stores across the country, we knew that it was a sign that shopping malls are being killed by online shopping (Peterson, 2017). Shoppers who once spent their hours in stores trying on products and queuing in the line to pay, are now shopping online comparing prices among the competitors and choosing the most ideal time to deliver at their homes. Shopping online is not only convenient and accessible 24/7, but it also provides more options to the consumers and it is much more timesaving. According to Ram (2017), nowadays consumers are much more into shopping for experiences. Millenials have shifted their ways of spending to dining out and traveling. Furthermore, millenials are more driven by the experiences that will make the best social media content (Thompson, 2017). All in all, this group noticed how time is a luxury and prefer to order products online. Malls and retail stores need to wake up soon and realize that in order to stay relevant and grow, they need to adapt and change their strategies.

So will malls be able to overcome this trend and continue to survive? There are several things malls can do to strengthen their position in the retail industry:

  • Setting up a diverse tenant mix: the once occupied spaces in malls could now be replaced with entertainments, learning zones or food hotspots (Schaefer, 2016). By housing fitness studios, medical offices, beaty salons and grocery stores in the mall, many consumers will find there are more values added in going to a mall that will contribute to their experiences.
  • Creating a ‘click & collect’ concept: in order to make shopping more convenient for customers, malls could start using the ‘click and collect’ concept. This way, customers could purchase products online and then collect it later at the mall. According to ICSC (2015), consumers who participate in click and collect shopping, they tend to buy additional goods that were not part of their original purchase once they hit the store.
  • Rolling out mobile apps: malls could start rolling out mobile apps, or upgrading their current apps to be more interactive and customer-focused. For instance, shoppers could use their location and find real-time parking lot spaces on the app, real-time navigations to find certain stores, finding their customer’s loyalty on the app and much more. The app could also personalize offerings and recommendations to the consumers, which in return would likely stimulate consumers to purchase more in the mall or on the app.

With these action points, malls could certainly step up their game and combat the current crisis they are in. I strongly believe that malls would not fade away entirely if they start providing more diversity of products and services within their malls and start embracing technology. Sometimes you would find me hours in a mall because they just have so much to offer: from sitting in a Ferris wheel to joining 2-hours art classes to eating at delicious restaurants. Of course, many malls (especially older and traditional ones) still have to catch up with these ideas and it will take some years before they could fully implement it. Lastly, what are your thoughts regarding malls becoming obsolete? Do you think they will disappear in the future or they will rejuvenate?

Bibliography

Peterson, H., 2017. Macy’s may shut down even more stores. [Online]
Available at: https://www.businessinsider.nl/macys-might-shut-down-more-stores-2017-5/?international=true&r=US
[Accessed 24 September 2017].

Ram, S., 2017. Meeting millennials where they shop: Shaping the future of shopping malls. [Online]
Available at: http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/capital-projects-and-infrastructure/our-insights/meeting-millennials-where-they-shop-shaping-the-future-of-shopping-malls
[Accessed 25 September 2017].

Schaefer, S., 2016. How Malls Will Survive In The Age Of Amazon. [Online]
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveschaefer/2016/07/08/can-malls-stay-relevant-in-the-age-of-amazon/#30dbda2330b2
[Accessed 25 September 2017].

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), 2016. A Whopping 91 Percent Of Holiday Shoppers Made Purchases In A Physical Store, According To New ICSC Holiday Consumer Purchasing Trends Study. [Online]
Available at: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/a-whopping-91-percent-of-holiday-shoppers-made-purchases-in-a-physical-store-according-to-new-icsc-holiday-consumer-purchasing-trends-study-300202004.html
[Accessed 26 September 2017].

Thompson, D., 2017. What in the World Is Causing the Retail Meltdown of 2017?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-meltdown-of-2017/522384/
[Accessed 25 September 2017].

 

 

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