It's no secret that sustainability is the best choice ethically: it means protecting our planet, its species and our communities for generations to come. Yet as an ecommerce business owner, you may not realise that it's also the best choice practically – a sure-fire way to engage your customers, improve brand loyalty and grow your business.
If you need convincing, look no further than Asia-Pacific. The region's e-commerce market is experiencing exponential growth, with projections of 14.3% expansion annually, reaching a cap of USD 3.5268 trillion from 2020 to 2030. In tandem with this tremendous increase, ecommerce merchants are taking advantage of trailblazing eco-friendly solutions. Why? Because embedding sustainability within ecommerce makes business sense. You can meet your objectives for business growth while satisfying consumers' sustainability needs.
A recent survey confirmed these trends: 58% of Asian consumers are willing to invest time and money in supporting companies that care about the climate, and 63% are already factoring sustainability concerns into their purchase decisions at least once in a while, across all ages and income levels. Consumers in Asia Pacific are even willing to pay more for sustainable products, and they love to share their knowledge of sustainable products with their peers.
Responding to this increase in awareness, the Asia-Pacific ecommerce market is a well of inspiration for climate action, demonstrating the range of climate action software types and reduction strategies that can help make your business more sustainable, attractive and resilient. From redesigning products and resale services to minimising packaging to incorporating carbon offset options at point of checkout, the options are plentiful and can be tailored to fit your individual services and business proposition.
Take Hivelife, an initiative in Japan that rewards consumers who choose to reduce their climate impact in small, everyday ways – like participating in ride shares, buying energy-saving home appliances or refusing to buy single-use plastics. The initiative is part of a wide-ranging government programme to support the dozens of retailers that are expanding loyalty point schemes to incentivise customers to make greener buying decisions. Japanese electronic ecommerce company Rakuten, for example, awards points to customers who purchase energy-efficient appliances and opt to use ecologically friendly packaging for the goods purchased on its platform. People can use the credits they earn on online purchases, airline mileage points or even, in some cases, investments.
In Southeast Asia, the leading supermarket app Grab similarly enables users to make greener choices while shopping. Its carbon offset and cutlery toggle feature has contributed to the planting of more than 42,000 trees regionally, offset more than 2,300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions through carbon credits, and reduced the use of more than 774 million sets of single-use cutlery. Consumers can view their personal impact report on the Grab app to understand their impact.
The international ecommerce company Lazada – which has a strong presence across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – is focusing on reducing plastic waste. Leveraging its broad network, Lazada has put partnerships and social initiatives in place to build a more sustainable ecommerce ecosystem. For example: together with PT Smoot Motor Indonesia, Lazada Logistics introduced the Blue Vehicle, an environmentally friendly package delivery fleet for Lazada's frontliners in the country.
These are just some of the ways you can embed eco-friendly practices within your ecommerce business. If you're ready to redesign with sustainability in mind, you can educate yourself about carbon offsets and how they work by reading our FAQs here, or explore how to enable your customers to take climate action when completing a purchase here.
Make every customer purchase count in your fight against climate change while increasing conversion rates.
