In the last post, we discussed the negative environmental and social impacts of overconsumption in the context of fast fashion. But fast fashion is not the only thing we over consume. In fact, most consumer products are being consumed excessively and this can be clearly seen through the discussion of online shopping. With the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, online shopping has never been as widespread or popular as it is now. It has resulted in a change in consumer behaviour and habits meaning that the demand for online shopping is unlikely to decline. From clothing items to groceries, you can basically purchase and receive any consumer good without needing to leave the house. Furthermore, the demand for urban last-mile delivery is expected to grow 78% by 2030, leading to 36% more delivery vehicles in 100 cities around the world (Whiting, 2020).
Some people argue that online shopping is more eco-friendly rather than making personal shopping trips to brick and mortar establishments. A significant portion of academic literature argues this for this perspective. These studies suggest that since delivery trucks optimise their routes, online has the potential to decrease the negative impacts of shopping on the environment, and therefore is much more sustainable than shopping trips to stores using personal cars (Jaller and Pahwa, 2020). Siikavirta et al. (2003) (cited in Jaller and Pahwa, 2020 estimated a potential up to 93% reduction in distances traveled, and a maximum of 84% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to online shopping. Hence, the amount of air pollution, as a result of heavy traffic, will reduce. However, what this perspective fails to to understand is that there are many different types of online shopping orders that may not fall into this category.
A study from 2020 by Jaller and Pahwa used a breakeven analysis to investigate impacts from rush deliveries, customer basket size and vendor consolidation levels. They found that a well-consolidated online shopping consumer behaviours can significantly reduce the negative externalities onto the environment. However, this exact consolidation makes all the difference; depending on how consumers consolidate their orders or how vendors consolidate their shipments, these externalities may not actually be reduced, but rather amplified. The researchers found that this potential to reduce negative externalities reduces significantly with small orders and rush orders. To illustrate this, imagine a HDB block with 20 families. If these 20 families consolidate their grocery orders and bulk purchase their groceries which means only one truck have to come and deliver these goods, it has the potential to reduce traffic and air pollution since these families do not have to individually drive to a supermarket to make their purchases. However, without consolidation, this model does not work. Assume all 20 families now order their groceries online, still, but via PandaMart – a quick delivery method that arrives within the hour. The lack of consolidation means that they can order their groceries at any time, meaning that 20 separate trips have to be made to deliver the same amount of groceries. Jaller and Pahwa’s study highlights the importance of consolidation in minimising negative externalities through online shopping.
With these findings, it is clear how online shopping can actually exacerbate negative externalities onto the environment because of consumer behaviour. From Kavilanz (2020),
The main reason is because of how people shop online: Many buy items online frequently — but they only buy a few items per purchase.
Consumers’ desire for convenience and speed creates a culture that does little to benefit the environment. The online shopping space encourages this behaviour through various marketing techniques from flash sales to live sales. Below, is a screen-capture from Shopee, the most dominant online shopping platform in Singapore.
Flash sales have become a staple for such online shopping platforms, with consumers fighting to purchase the limited quantities at the available price. As a result, consumers make many individual (unconsolidated) purchases, which translates to many trips.
Another important marketing strategy that does not help with the consolidation of online shopping are live sales. Live sales are where a seller (or influencer) sells items on a livestream by shopping viewers the different aspects of the product. They can be held on multiple platforms from online shopping platforms like Shopee to social media platforms like facebook and instagram. It helps to creates the feeling of human interaction like shopping in brick and mortar stores. Viewers are hence often quite easily marketed and make many small online purchases. This is made worse when we consider that international express shipping is the norm meaning that single item you purchased was individually wrapped and flew in from elsewhere in the world to reach you. So when you consider the ecological footprint of every item you purchase, it might be surprisingly large.
Jaller, M. & Pahwa, A. (2020). ‘Evaluating the environmental impacts of online shopping: A behavioral and transportation approach’. Transportation Research Part D, 80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2020.102223.
Kavilanz, P. (2020). Online shopping can be worse for the environment than driving to a store. CNN Business. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/26/tech/greenhouse-gas-emissions-retail/index.html.
Whiting, K. (2020). Online shopping is polluting the planet – but it’s not too late. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/carbon-emissions-online-shopping-solutions/.