How To Make Sure Your Business Is Shipping Sustainably

Customer returns are a huge issue for online retailers. Getting to grips with them will improve your margins as well as make you more sustainable. The good news is that getting to grips with returns is more about thoroughness and attention to detail than it is about your budget.

What you need to understand is that the majority of customers who return goods do so because the goods didn’t meet their expectations. There is a very small percentage of customers who use the returns system as a way to scam retailers. If, however, you’re running effective anti-fraud measures you should be able to catch most if not all of these.

Stopping customers from making genuine returns essentially boils down to making sure that they have all the information they need to make an informed decision before they buy. More specifically, it means ensuring that they have that information at their fingertips rather than having to search for it.

In general, the easiest way to achieve this is to implement a chatbot system. That way, you can keep your web pages clean and attractive but still give customers all the information they need. Additionally, it’s a good idea to provide lots of photos and/or videos. In some cases, you might even want to create an app to allow customers to visualize the product in their real life.

Keeping on top of your inventory will minimize your chances of having to send goods by air to compensate for delays in getting new stock. It will also minimize your chances of having goods returned purely because they arrived too late.

Prior to COVID19, it was fairly common practice for businesses to operate just-in-time shipping processes. They also tended to ship from central distribution hubs, often in China. Before the pandemic, these tended to work fairly well most of the time. Even then, however, there were noticeable problems with the system.

Post COVID19 it could be well worth considering having a bank of inventory to protect you against shipping delays. If you routinely ship internationally, it could also be worth considering keeping stock in hubs near your main customer bases. You could have a partner ship them out to your end customers from there.

This approach is often a win for customer service as well as sustainability. It means that goods can be transported most of the way using slower transport options. They can then go to the last leg by air if necessary. If, however, the goods are closer to the customers, you may be able to make more frequent use of slower and more sustainable transport options.

If you’re packaging your own products then make a commitment to review your packaging on a regular basis. That means at least once a year. This will allow you to adapt your packaging quickly to reflect the changes that inevitably come with time.  

For example, people may discover more sustainable ways of packing either using new materials or using existing materials in a new way. Alternatively, stakeholders such as governments may update rules/taxes relating to the use of packaging materials. These changes generally favor more sustainable options.

Both developments in packaging and regulatory changes tend to be flagged well in advance of going mainstream/being implemented. It’s therefore highly advisable to pay attention to relevant news sources so you always stay on top of the latest news and can respond quickly.

No matter what packaging you use, err on the side of excess when it comes to protective materials. Slightly overpacking an item is less of a sustainability hazard than slightly underpacking it. This is because it minimizes the chances of the goods being damaged and hence being returned and/or discarded.

If you break shipping rules, even by accident, then you’re setting yourself up for trouble. You may get away with it on the odd occasion but the chances are you won’t. This is particularly true if you’re sending goods by air.  

The aviation industry takes customer security extremely seriously. This means that air cargo is scanned very thoroughly before it gets put on the plane. If there is anything wrong at all, the package will generally be either held or returned. Generally, it will be held if there is an issue with documentation and returned if the package cannot be transported for some other reason.

Both holds and returns are an inconvenience. From a sustainability perspective, returns are far worse. As with customer returns, they are a largely avoidable drain on resources, including and especially carbon.

You need a documented shipping process to ensure that everyone gets everything they ordered sent where they want it sent with minimal delay. This process should cover literally every step in the order-dispatch process. That includes prior actions such as ordering packaging.

An effective shipping process will allow you to use the most sustainable and cost-effective methods for sending your items. For example, it will allow you to see when it’s better to send items in one package and when it’s better to send items in multiple packages.

It will eliminate the need to send items separately purely because the packer forgot (or didn’t know) to add them to the main order. It can also help to minimize returns since it should eliminate issues with goods arriving after they are needed.

Try to encourage your customers to use more sustainable shipping options whenever possible. For example, offer free shipping by land and sea but charge a premium for air. You might also want to consider implementing a reward scheme and offering extra points for choosing more sustainable shipping options.