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Can e-commerce truly be sustainable?
While there are unavoidable environmental impacts from e-commerce, like shipping emissions, there are also many steps that sustainable brands can take to minimize this impact.
Take the tights brand Hedoine for example. As they declare on their website:
“Let’s be real, there’s no such thing as truly sustainable clothing consumption. That realised, we want to do everything we can to craft high quality products that are less harmful to the planet.”
They follow through with this promise by creating durable products that are made to last, employing local production, reducing water waste and using recycled packaging. Here’s how your store can do the same:
How to design an eco-friendly product
Look for gaps in the market and address real customer needs
As with any business, begin by looking for gaps in the market. Think daily, essential items that could be made more sustainable. Or products that you would love to buy, but can’t find anywhere.
How this looks in action: KeepCup
The iconic reusable KeepCup was created by siblings Abigail and Jamie Forsyth to address a problem they saw every day as cafe owners: the sheer volume of waste produced by single-use coffee cups. They knew there was a market and need for a sustainable alternative so they got to work producing the KeepCup, which has now sold over 12M units.
Growing sustainable goods niches to consider
To kick off your brainstorm, here are a few eco niches that are predicted to grow in 2026:
- Eco-friendly pet accessories
- Organic/recycled cotton clothing
- Refillable beauty items
- Solar-powered chargers
Consider your product’s lifespan
Design circular products that can be reused, recycled or naturally break down after use. Beauty brand fluff, for instance, have built their products around circularity. Their popular makeup is sold in refillable stainless steel packaging. Customers simply purchase refills that slot back in, rather than throwing the entire case into landfill. This reduces waste and encourages repeat purchases.
Define your target customer
Like any brand, you need to have a deep understanding of your target demographic to thrive. As with the KeepCup example, this is easiest if you pick a niche or community that you’re already part of. Investigate whether this demographic would be willing to change their behavior or pay more for a sustainable alternative.
Ask the experts
Just because you have the idea, doesn’t necessarily mean you have the expertise and resources to make it real. The good news is that you can always ask for help from the experts, like product designers who can find the most practical way to bring your concept to life. If you’re planning to handcraft products in a medium you’re already an expert in, then you can skip this step.
How to source materials and manufacture sustainably
Materials matter
Sustainability starts with material sourcing. Look for materials that are recycled, renewable, biodegradable and fair-trade, like:
- Bamboo
- Hemp
- Organic cotton
- Wood
- Cork
- Seaweed
- Corn husks
- Coconut shells
- Paper and cardboard
- PLA (made from sugarcane)
Look local
Reduce shipping distance and emissions by partnering with local manufacturers and sourcing local materials. If this isn’t feasible, consider investing in a carbon offsetting program.
Use renewable energy
During the manufacturing process, employ renewable energy where possible - whether through your own solar panels on site or by partnering with renewable energy utilities companies.This is definitely an investment, and may not be feasible for small businesses just starting up. But the environmental impact is huge.
How to actually set up your sustainable store online (the logistics)
Here’s how to choose the right software that’ll do the hard work for you, so you can focus on building your brand.
Set up your online store
First things first, you’ll need to decide on your store’s name. The universal advice is to keep it short, simple and relevant to your ethos. For instance, using words tied to nature will instantly tell customers about your sustainable purpose.
You can then create your own website through platforms like Shopify, Woo Commerce, Squarespace and Wix; or join a marketplace-style platform like Etsy. This really depends on how much customization you want and how much experience you have with putting a website together. Our advice: choose Shopify for a user-friendly experience and Woo for full control and customization.
During this process, you will need to buy a domain for your store’s name. Think of this as your user-friendly web address. In Shopify, you can do this through Settings > Domains. The cost depends on the specific domain you want to purchase, but starts from $14/year.
Refine your product strategy and branding
If you’re creating your own products, don’t underestimate the importance of great branding to make your store more appealing. This includes a distinct logo, colour palette, font, and consistent tone of voice across all copy. Start pulling these together, along with great product photography, to customize your store and showcase your sustainable mission.
Choose your shipping strategy
Plan out how you will deliver your products to customers efficiently. There are a few approaches you could take, including:
- Flat-rate shipping: This is a set fee for shipping all orders within a specified size. For instance, $10 shipping for orders that fit into a small package. Work this out by researching your local courier's pricing for pre-paid satchels/boxes. The pro of this is that it simplifies operations and budgeting. The con is the lack of flexibility and that you can’t customize the packaging with your own branding.
- Real-time calculations: You’ll need a tool like Easyship or Smart Send to get real-time insight into shipping costs at the time of checkout. This is the most cost effective approach, but it’s also more complex to set up initially.
- Free shipping: To make this viable, you’ll need to bake the shipping cost into your product price. The pro is that this is proven to increase conversion rates. The cons are that it can reduce profit margins if not calculated correctly into product price and it can lead to higher returns.
How to reduce shipping emissions and waste
Sustainable ecommerce packaging
Choose recyclable and biodegradable packing materials (like cardboard, recyclable HEX wrap and plant-based foams) over single-use plastics and styrofoam materials that won’t break down.
Online store agood company is taking this to the next level. As an entirely carbon neutral business, they use eco-friendly stone paper in packaging, which is water resistant, durable and produced using only recycled materials.
Sustainable ecommerce shipping
Shipping is an inevitable part of running an e-commerce store. But you can reduce the harm caused by:
- Shipping locally only
- Using green carriers
- Carbon offsetting
In a world of same-day Amazon deliveries, it may feel counterintuitive to prioritise sustainability over speed. But a reported 86% of US shoppers are willing to delay their delivery for sustainability purposes. So it’s clear that this is important to customers as well as the planet.
Reduce returns
Returns are a huge cause of emissions and they hurt your bottom line. Avoid them in the first place by making your product listings detailed and accurate and your returns policy clear on your website. You can also de-incentivise them with shorter returns windows.
Encourage resale over landfill
Another approach to circularity is to host a resale marketplace through your channels, like Outdoor brand Patagonia’s ‘Worn Wear’. Here, loyal customers make a sale on items they no longer wear, the brand gets a commission and the products get a second life. It’s a win-win.
If your store’s left holding excess/dead stock at the end of a season, you can also partner with retailers, through directories like Syncio Marketplace, to resell them. They can find the right customers for these goods, giving them a second life.
How to grow your sustainable e-commerce brand
Transparency all the way
Remember that quote from Hedoine at the start where they admit that a fashion business can’t be perfect when it comes to the environment, but that they’re making steps to improve. This honesty is what makes them so beloved by customers.
Shoppers are savvy about greenwashing. They don’t expect perfection but they do expect honesty and accountability. They want transparency about every step of the process that brought a parcel to their front door. You can do this by:
- Providing sourcing information in your product listings, so shoppers can trace the item’s materials back.
- Being honest about your sustainability goals and how you’re progressing with them, backing this up with real data.
- Posting videos and photos of your manufacturing and sourcing process on your website and social media.
Retail distribution
Partner with a sustainable retailer and list your products on their storefront. You’ll get instant access to their established customer base without spending a cent on ads. You can also benefit from their expertise and resources which are invaluable when you’re launching a small business.
Start by searching for a store that shares your mission and values. For example, PAZ Lifestyle, is a fashion and homewares retailer that sells a curated selection of sustainable and ethically made products. By partnering with stores like this, you’ll get your products in front of your target customer. You can start searching for like-minded retailers through Syncio Marketplace.
Build loyalty
The great thing about building a values-led brand is that your customers will feel an emotional tie to your mission that’ll encourage loyalty. That said, you can give them an extra push to do so by offering:
- discounts on refill purchases
- discount codes for follow up purchases
- redeemable points for recycling old products
- discounts on imperfect/damaged products so they don’t go to waste
The pay off
While there are undeniably a lot of considerations in running a sustainable e-commerce brand, the pay off is twofold: you can make sales and look after the planet. Leverage consumer demand and become part of the growing slow commerce movement by launching your online store and collaborating with like-minded partners.
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