?? Mark's Favourites: Sustainability in Physical Retail Spaces

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As consumers continue to back physical retail, which has seen off many of the worst predictions about the long term impact of the pandemic, another reason to shop in stores has come to light – improved sustainability.

A recent study on the environmental impact of shopping online versus brick-and-mortar shopping found that mall shopping can be up to 60% more environmentally sustainable than online shopping. The study, Does Shopping Behaviour Impact Sustainability?, was conducted by?global advisor Deloitte on behalf of US mall giant Simon Property Group and found that a number of factors, including increased returns and additional packaging, contributed to a greater environmental impact from online shopping. The lower emissions associated with brick-and-mortar shopping locations were driven by a number of factors, including that shoppers typically make a greater number of purchases per trip and tend to combine their mall visits with other activities as part of their overall journey.

A previous study by Deloitte back in 2016 had attempted to assess every aspect of the shopping trip and its environmental impact, evaluating all material, energy, and waste attributable to a product during its lifecycle.

This time round, Simon updated the analysis with new data to incorporate recent trends in shopper behaviour for both online and mall shopping. In an attempt to ensure fair comparability, the lifecycle assessment assumed that the consumer purchased the same basket of goods online as they would in a brick-and-mortar location. The updated version of the study showed that shopping at a mall is about three times more environmentally sustainable than just three years ago, largely thanks to changing consumer behaviours, both online and in-store.

Simon's study produced a number of key findings, including that shopping online leads to five times more returned products, which considerably increases its environmental impact. The study estimated that approximately 40% of online purchases are returned, versus 7% in the case of brick-and-mortar buys.

Indeed, returns continue to be a bug bear of online sales, especially among fashion retailers where younger customers especially will often order several of the same item in different sizes and return those that don’t fit.

Shopping online also creates five times more emissions from packaging for online orders (the likes of corrugated boxes, bubble wrap, etc) compared with the emissions associated with use of the plastic/paper bag consumers typically bring home from the mall (and over 100 countries now have a full or partial ban on single-use plastic bags.)

And on average, shoppers at the mall buy three and a half products per trip and usually visit other places on their way to the mall, which is often referred to in the US as ‘trip chaining’.

This lowers the emissions specifically related to their mall visit, because their trip is divided between multiple stops.

Read more:

Does Shopping Behaviour Impact Sustainability?

The death of beloved brands is fueling U.S. malls’ post-pandemic resurgence

Hammerson sees customers visit shopping centres less often – but with purpose