New research has revealed that 63 per cent of Australian consumers are willing to pay a premium for more sustainable delivery options when shopping online.
As online shopping rates remain high due to the impacts of COVID-19, 60 per cent of consumers have also highlighted that they would be open to receiving deliveries at a later date if it meant that the delivery would be more environmentally friendly.
The research report ‘Sustainability in the Australian Retail Supply Chain’ was commissioned by Manhattan Associates, Shippit, and Greener in partnership with the National Retail Association (NRA) and NORA.
Raghav Sibal, Managing Director, ANZ, Manhattan Associates, said that this research shows that sustainability might be gaining traction as a circuit breaker for the consumer obsession with delivery speed.
“For many years now, the predominant consumer pressure on retailers across the globe has revolved around how they can deliver goods even faster, leading to massive gains in same or next day delivery windows,” he said.
But more than half (60 per cent) of Australian consumers indicated they often receive their online order in multiple shipments and 81 per cent said that they think this is an inefficient and unsustainable way of delivering goods.
A further 64 per cent said that they would be even more motivated to accept a longer delivery wait time – with all purchases consolidated into one package – if the delivery fee was free or discounted.
Leading courier aggregator, Shippit, has collected data from deliveries across Australia, spanning more than 2.2 billion kilometres to measure how much carbon is generated by its courier partners from the moment a parcel is picked up to when it’s delivered. It found that these deliveries contribute to approximately 4,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
Demonstrating the efforts Australian consumers are already making to be more environmentally conscious, research also showed that more than 45 per cent of consumers said that after placing an order online, they would usually check to see if the retailer offered a sustainable delivery option, such as carbon offset or order consolidation services.
Tom Ferrier, Founder, Greener, said that retailers need to make sustainability a bigger priority.
“The next few years presents an unprecedented opportunity for brands that are taking genuine action to reduce their emissions. For those helping their customers do the same, it’s a competitive advantage. For those who aren’t, it’s a strategic risk.”