A 2020 survey by the research organization IBM Institute for Business Value and the world’s largest retail trade association, the U.S. National Retail Federation, shows that for nearly eight in ten people, sustainability is important, and almost six in ten are willing to change their shopping habits if it can help the climate.
In a survey from PriceRunner, 12% say that they have at least once opted out of an e-commerce store due to their lack of consideration for the environment and sustainability, and that number is expected to increase rapidly. If we look at the consumers of the future alone, the 18-29-year-olds, the figure is already almost double 22%.
However, PriceRunner’s studies also show that it is difficult as a consumer to ensure that you act as sustainably as possible when shopping online. Only 20% respond that they agree with the statement, “I get enough information from e-merchants to be able to make sustainable choices when shopping online.”
Therefore, there is an opportunity for e-commerce stores to communicate better about sustainability. Perhaps this is not only an opportunity but also a responsibility. This is the opinion of Lars Sørensen, CEO of Eventyrsport, who won the award PriceRunner’s Danish Store of the Year 2021.
He states: "Danish stores, both online and physically, have a responsibility to make it easier for Danes, for example, by making it easier for customers to find the products that are produced with an emphasis on sustainable materials and quality.”
The fact that e-commerce stores have responsibility is further emphasized by the fact that almost half of the categories for the Danish E-commerce Award in 2022 have “Sustainable initiatives/initiatives” as one of the judging criteria.
It is not only within B2C that information on sustainability is in demand. Fresh figures from the Danish Chamber of Commerce Digital Handel show that 46% of Danish companies have purchasing strategies with sustainability requirements.
A personalization and recommendation platform is generally not seen as a tool to support this responsibility, but to a great extent offers the opportunity to do so. In this article, we will look at how this can be done.