Avoiding returns and more: how online stores are becoming more sustainable

The topic of sustainability has become increasingly important in recent years and is more relevant than ever in the fashion industry. Step by step, many online stores are trying to sell sustainable products, avoid waste and apply other strategies that protect the environment.

Avoid returns

Unfortunately, it is unavoidable in online retail that customers will want to return products. Giving customers fewer reasons to return all or part of their purchase is a step in the right direction.

Describe the product in detail

It can happen that a product is completely different from what the customer imagined. To prevent this from happening in the first place, products should be described in as much detail as possible. Especially in a Online store for the latest fashion include a description of the color and feel as well as informative product photos or even videos in good quality. In the case of textiles, the material composition and washing instructions should also be mentioned.

Telephone customer advice or live chat

If the customer is still unsure after reading the item description, a consultation can help to avoid bad purchases. A person with whom the customer can call or chat can answer any remaining questions and make the purchase decision much easier. 

Enable cancelations or changes

One wrong click and it's done: The customer has ordered the wrong size, the wrong color or even the wrong product. Even if the customer notices it before receiving the goods, it is often the case that the item still has to be packed, shipped and then returned by the customer.

It would be more environmentally friendly to make it possible for customers to cancel or change their order so that unnecessary shipping routes and packaging material can be avoided. Customers will also be pleased if they receive the right product more quickly and do not have to worry about return shipping.

However, if cancellations or changes are to be possible, this is associated with higher programming costs.

Other green strategies

Choose a climate-neutral shipping service

An online store is faced with the choice of which shipping service should deliver the orders to the man or woman. Different service providers often offer different conditions: In addition to a financial advantage, shipping companies can increasingly score points with climate-neutral shipping. This ensures that no unnecessary environmental costs are incurred.

Adjust packaging size to the contents

Packaging that would fit the purchase three times is unnecessarily large and therefore not sustainable. Online stores should rather adapt the size of the packaging to the contents - this also saves on filling material.

Send recyclable packaging

If the transport packaging tears when it is first opened, it can usually no longer be put to good use, which is why a sustainable online store uses packaging that customers can reuse for returns or private use.

Recycling cardboard boxes from customers

The procedure just described also works the other way round: if an online store receives returned goods, the associated packaging is often still in good to very good condition. Instead of disposing of them, cardboard boxes received from customers can simply be recycled.

It is important here that a data stamp is used in the interests of data protection so that the previous address is no longer visible.

Donate carbon offsetting

More and more online stores are offering their customers the option of donating an emissions offset for their order with just one click when checking out. This requires cooperation with an environmental protection organization.

Offering sustainable brands

In addition to procedures that primarily concern the sustainable packaging and shipping of goods, online stores can also ensure that the goods themselves are sustainable.

More and more online stores are attaching importance to the fact that their products are produced in their own country, for example, under good conditions or without animal-based materials.

Redesigning workspaces

One strategy for making online stores more sustainable is less obvious: even if the online store is just a website open on the customer's cell phone or desktop, there are many people behind it who make the programming of the store, storage and shipping of the products possible in the first place.

To make these people's workplaces more sustainable, old light bulbs can be replaced with energy-saving bulbs, for example.

Even more important than sorting waste is preventing it from being produced in the first place. To this end, paper consumption can be limited and microwaves and coffee machines in the break room can also ensure that less (delivery) packaging is produced.

About the author:

Aylina Evers works as a copywriter for the fashion company Eierund GmbH and the associated online store HoseOnline.de. She is mainly responsible for product placement and writes blog posts for the fashion magazine.