You’ve probably heard a lot about going green in your daily life recently. Maybe you have reusable bags for groceries or purchased a new stainless steel straw. More and more customers are also looking for greener companies to do business with, whether they are brick-and-mortar or online shops. If you have a blossoming ecommerce store and are looking to go green with it, we have a couple of helpful tips to get you there.
While the internet itself takes a lot of energy to run, you can find ways to make your carbon footprint smaller by looking for web hosting companies that reduce this energy output. Look for web hosts that maintain their servers with renewable energy, such as solar powered servers. Green web hosting companies also may participate in Renewable Energy Credits, which are certificates of proof that shows 1 megawatt-hour of energy was generated and used from a renewable power source.
Want to know which web hosts are going green? Check out this list from Tech Radar.
You can continue to stretch efficiency to your own website by making sure it’s operating as fast as possible. Make sure your website has the best image formats for speedy loading. Try leveraging browser caching, which means you decide how long images, CSS script and JS are stored by the local server. You can also optimize the performance of your landing pages by tweaking the url so they are easily cacheable when someone visits your ecommerce store.
A study conducted in 2018 found that Millennials are the most willing to pay more for sustainable products or from companies that are known for their eco-friendliness. The one thing we think of when going green is how to extend that to shipping. A great way to lower your waste output is to reuse boxes and packing material, as long as they have not been damaged. If you don’t have enough shipping material to reuse, go for materials that are certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council or are Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) certified.
Take it a step further and go paperless with your delivery slips and invoices. Not only is it much easier to store these items on a computer or in the emails of customers, but it uses less paper and saves space. For shipping invoices, you can go paperless or look for recycled or recyclable paper that is sustainably sourced.
Whether you operate out of an official office or your living room, you can go green where you work. You can make sure your equipment, such as computer and printer, are as energy efficient as possible. Check out your local recycling center to see if there is local pickup for recyclables or take them to the center. Light up your working space with energy efficient bulbs and turn off all lights and electronics when not in use. When you purchase cleaning products, look for those that are environmentally friendly or easily recyclable.
As you can see, no matter how or where you run your Ecommerce store, it’s easy to go green. Not only will you feel good about yourself, but it will reflect well on the millions of consumers who are looking for greener and more eco-friendly companies who share their beliefs and help build lasting relationships. Do you have a creative or innovative way to go green? Share it with us in the comments below!
