Will sustainability and faster deliveries kill express profits?

We are observing two simultaneous revolutions in customer behavior: consumers are getting used to have everything delivered within hours of placing an order and at the same time, people are demanding higher environmental awareness from their preferred brands. Buyers are now more inclined to make a purchase based on a brand’s values and any negative publicity on the news or social media platforms can have an impact on sales.

Here’s the irony: consumerism is harmful for the environment. Everyone is more conscientious about what we purchase and who produced it but we also want to make the most “sustainable” decisions with the goal of reducing the global carbon footprint. This means lowering the number of items we produce and consume but the opposite is taking place, customers are demanding more same or next-day deliveries and free-return options.

Express delivery options have a higher environmental footprint than planned deliveries, which are optimized to deliver as many packages using fewer resources. Even though there are steps taken to reduce operating costs for the company, the end result is that a planned delivery is much less harmful to the environment compared to an express delivery. Consumerism and expedited deliveries are only expected to rise so business are being forced to adopt sustainable delivery logistics solutions that make the last-mile process more ecofriendly. Market research shows that there is an emerging trend as e-commerce shoppers are willing to consider greener shipping options as long as this does not alter shipping costs. Customers are starting to recognize that one person delivering one package in a partially full vehicle is not the best environmental solution.

But what are the express companies’ commitments when it comes to sustainability?