Retail and e-commerce - April 2019

Corrugated, plastic, sustainability in e-commerce packaging
Leading Dutch e-tailer bol.com (in Dutch) says, they will remove their add-on blue/white branded box where possible in 2019. Approximately 3.5 million items will be shipped without it. If cardboard is necessary for the protection of the item, bol.com prefers to ship the product in its own pack. The e-tailer also introduces a shipping bag made of recycled plastic, aiming to reduce the amount of empty space in parcels. Packaging accounts for about 20% of bol.com's total CO2 emissions.
With “Goed Verpakt – Handboek Duurzaam Verpakken” ("Well Packed - Handbook Sustainable Packaging”) e-commerce trade sector organisation Thuiswinkel.org (in Dutch) aims to assist webshops in the non-food sectors in making the best packaging choices. Their guideline (in Dutch, 2.19 MB) provides a detailed explanation of all the elements that play a role.
Tentative results of the NVC Web Retail Sustainability Insights Survey (WRP-SIS) were part of a presentation (in Dutch, 3.56 MB) given by NVC on 20 March 2019 for a 120+ audience at the NL Packaging Event. Past, present and possible futures of packaging for e-commerce were extensively discussed. The next meeting of the NVC International Working Group Web Retail Packaging will take place 20 September 2019 in Rotterdam.

Consumer insights in the retail business of the future
As competition increases and consumer preferences evolve, retailers continue to advance the way customers browse, shop and buy. In a white paper (What’s New In Retail: Emerging Global Concepts), Euromonitor International identifies the top retailing concepts seen across the globe within four categories: grocery, non-grocery, non-store and digital. You can receive the white paper by e-mail after filling in your details.
PwC’s 10th annual Global Consumer Insights Survey (GCIS) gathers the sentiments of more than 21,000 online consumers in 27 territories. This edition shows that in addition to the traditional return on investment (ROI) metrics used to determine a company’s success, business needs to introduce another metric, one with a laser focus on customer experience: return on experience. Whether in household goods, health services, selling cars or financial services, delivering a superior experience will be what makes a business a winner, says PwC. You can download the report (10.39 MB).
The Ecommerce Foundation has published updates on e-commerce market developments for The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. You can download light versions of the reports for free after you have registered on the website.

NVC members receive this information with all the relevant links in the monthly NVC Members-only Update. If you have any questions, please contact us: info@nvc.nl, +31-(0)182-512411.