The rapid growth of online shopping services has allowed small businesses to effectively promote their products and find their target audience on the market. The enormous number of goods offered by retailers resulted in customers becoming extremely selective in their shopping choices. Not only the quality of suggested items affects your sales scope, but the ability to stay environmentally friendly.
Why Consider Eco-Friendly Shipping?
Over the last few decades, eco-friendly strategy has evolved from one of the main business trends to a regular buyer’s expectation. Numerous polls have proved that modern consumers are more prone to buy from companies caring about reducing waste and energy efficiency. Nowadays, it is nearly impossible to make your product popular without adopting environmentally sustainable business practices. Besides making your business more competitive, you’ll cut the expenses by applying sustainable freight packaging. Altogether, your efforts will result in reducing carbon emissions and moving towards a green future.
Adopting Sustainable Strategy for Small Business
It might seem quite complicated to adopt the eco-friendly strategy if your business is small, or you’ve just started to actively deliver your orders. However, in the beginning, it is enough to think about how you can reduce the waste to get more environmentally conscious. If you are sure the production of the items you sell is ecologically safe, it is high time to consider upgrading your shipping operations. There are several reliable business practices widely used by many retailers.
Route optimization
Examine your regular route maps to see if there is a possibility to shorten the distance you usually cover. Thus, you will prevent fuel waste and reduce the carbon footprint while being on the road. The route optimization can help you partially save fuel expenses, too.
Review of shipment scheduling
If you manage to look into your shipment scheduling, you will most likely detect some possibilities to move your items more effectively. That is, you can try to rearrange your shipment timeline so that you deliver more packages using less fuel. GoShip online tool can help you plan your shipment and get the best instant rates.
Delivering to warehouses
Going the full route every time you need to deliver the order considerably increases the negative impact on the environment. A vast network of warehouses can aid in resolving this issue since you can simply move bigger amounts of goods to storage space. Thus, you’ll keep control over the order fulfillment without ruining the eco-friendly supply chain.
Consolidation programs
In case your cargo isn’t sizeable and doesn’t require big trailer space, it is cost-wise to address consolidation programs. This service was created to unite several small shipments in one truck to prevent excessive transit operations and make logistics more affordable for small business owners. Eventually, canceling unnecessary trips results in lowering environmental impact.
Applying Sustainable Freight Packaging
Although the use of plastic is still growing, the review of package types you typically apply can improve the situation. Optimization of the packaging methods is one of the keys to reducing environmental damage and developing an eco-friendly business strategy. Moreover, sustainable freight packaging is often quite cheaper than traditional options, so you can confidently apply eco-friendly packaging in your shipping process.
Reduced package volume
Eliminating excessive packaging is a perfect starting point. Check if it is possible to use fewer boxes to pack your items, or whether you can remove some extra packaging layers. Also, you can try to condense several units into one crate to save more trailer space and thus be able to load more boxes.
Sustainable and recyclable packaging
If you are shipping fragile items or those needing thick packaging for safety purposes, it is recommended to evaluate sustainable and recyclable packaging. Sustainable options will allow you to reuse the packaging multiple times without damaging your cargo during numerous transportations. Sustainable freight packaging is especially applicable in cases when you need to ship larger items like furniture or home appliances since these products require high waste of materials. Recyclable packaging options eliminate the risks of environmental harm as they can be simply sent out to recycling points after transit operations.
Biodegradable packaging
Today almost all the packaging materials are available in their biodegradable version. This is another great opportunity to follow a green shipping strategy and enhance customers’ satisfaction by demonstrating your ecological awareness. You can easily find bubble wrap, crates, mailers, or packing peanuts completely made of eco-friendly materials. They are safe for both humans and the environment, compostable, and sometimes much cheaper compared to regular packaging choices.
Eco-Friendly Shipping Trends
While businesses are getting more focused on eco-friendly strategies, a lot of new environmental initiatives emerge. The latest logistics tendencies offer a variety of green shipping ideas that can significantly improve your customers’ experience. For example, the concept of carbon offsetting is lately gaining in popularity due to its connection to social activities. Since the carbon emissions issue takes a long time to resolve, many business owners participate in carbon offsetting programs. These programs are often through funding eco-targeted projects or supporting eco-friendly manufacturers. You can become a part of the carbon offsetting movement by collaborating with sustainable packaging producers or recycling points that compost useless materials.
Along with activities you take up, you can offer your customers eco-friendly initiatives that they can take advantage of. Many businesses now suggest their buyers support return programs. In terms of these programs, customers get informed about the closest recycling plants, so they don’t just throw away the items’ packaging but send it for recycling. You can also encourage your audience to take part in different eco-friendly events. This can be done through your website, ads, and social media.
Finally, you can consider shipping your items by eco-friendly transport that uses alternative energy sources. This practice will significantly increase your energy efficiency and exclude harmful ecological impacts. Apart from that, you may deliver your goods through other transportation modes like railway transportation.