Retail and e-commerce - October 2020

Packaging and sustainability
Greenpeace USA has released a report (1.64 MB) highlighting various reuse and refill models around the globe that have continued or can be used during the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring strong sanitisation or contactless systems for containers.
TNO research (268 kB), commissioned by Thuiswinkel.org (in Dutch) and ‘Topsector Logistiek’, shows that collection points can lead to a reduction of CO₂ emissions in the delivery of parcels. A condition is that more consumers use pick-up points and that the accessibility of the points is increased.
CBL (in Dutch) has published a booklet (in Dutch, 4.83 MB) on sustainable packaging in the supermarket.
The Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) partnered with PTIS for a recently published report (2.06 MB) with the title ‘Sustainability Life Cycle and Economic Impacts of Flexible Packaging in E-commerce.’
Amazon and Flipkart may be fined for using excessive plastic packaging in India as the National Green Tribunal has directed the Central Pollution Control Board to conduct an environmental audit.
Researchers at the Università di Genova have published a paper (2.22 MB) in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment with the title ‘Sustainable packaging: an evaluation of crates for food through a life cycle approach.’

Developments in retail
According to a sector forecast (in Dutch, 564 kB) by ABN AMRO (in Dutch) the over-all food sector in The Netherlands will shrink by 4% and will not recover until after 2021.
A recent survey (2.12 MB) by Deloitte shows that the pandemic reveals new ingredients driving growth in fresh food. Consumer anxiety and product availability give rise to new priorities, purchase behaviours and accelerated trends for the future of fresh food.
Research by Procurious shows that the role of procurement teams in companies has increased in importance since COVID-19. You can download the report after filling in your details.
According to CBS (in Dutch), one in ten Dutch companies sells via an online platform.
COVID-19 has fast-tracked ecommerce by 5-10 years. A Metapack report explains why delivery has become a critical factor to leverage today’s unprecedented demand. You can download the report after filling in your details.

Consumer behaviour
KPMG has published a report (1.72 MB) that explores how digital economy, brand loyalty and buying experiences operate across the four customer-centric pillars of the future of commerce.
According to a consumer survey by Smurfit Kappa, consumers are making a statement by demanding more sustainable packaging from brands before making online fashion purchases. You can download the report after filling in your details (in Dutch).
Ecommerce Europe has published a position paper (130 kB) on empowering consumers in the green transition.
Food Insight executed a survey (343 kB) about eating and shopping during a pandemic.
Research by Mastercard shows that 74% of the shoppers in Europe are now more likely to shop in their local communities than they were a year ago. For Dutch shoppers the percentage is 69%, as discussed in another article (in Dutch).
According to Nielsen, COVID-19 has flipped the value proposition of omnichannel shopping for constrained consumers.
 

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