For some people, there’s an inherent tension between ‘using your spend for good’ and Amazon shopping. However, Amazon is making some big commitments to sustainability and for ethical brands, selling via Amazon’s platforms can have major benefits.
National Distribution Instantly
Sustainable brands can achieve instant omnipresence with a listing on Amazon. This means that they are available for all shoppers, no matter how rural. An Amazon listing short-cuts the process of launch-trial-growth-mainstreaming usually required to build high distribution. Success on Amazon can also facilitate distribution in bricks-and-mortar outlets, as sustainable brands are better able to demonstrate consumer demand to retail buyers who may not fully appreciate the opportunity.
Reach the right shoppers
Even more importantly, online shopping is becoming more dominant, especially amongst Millennials and GenZ shoppers (see our post on demographic destiny). These are also the shoppers most concerned about sustainability, making online shopping portals the ideal places to reach them.
Amazon’s sustainability credentials
Amazon as a business is showing genuine leadership on Climate Change. As a total business, they made a commitment to net zero by 2040. This is a full 10 years quicker than the Paris Climate Agreement commitment. They recently announced that they have achieved this goal in 2023, 7 years ahead of schedule. Their approach has been to invest in electric vehicles, fit warehouses with solar panels and match their energy consumption with renewable sources elsewhere. This achievement may be unexpected for those who view Amazon as unthinking and uncaring. Amazon acknowledge that there’s more to do but they have clearly demonstrated their commitment.
Not only have they achieved net zero on their own emissions (from all operations across retail and data centres) they have also established a business community, The Climate Pledge, with signatures from over 500 businesses including the likes of Uber, Visa, IBM and Microsoft, committed to:
- regular reporting on greenhouse gas emissions
- carbon elimination, and
- credible offsets.
In Amazon’s latest results release for investors, alongside turnover and profit metrics, was the announcement about the net zero achievement. In the same release, Amazon also states that 95% of the plastic air pillows in Amazon delivery packaging in North America have been replaced with paper filler. Amazon are already using paper filler extensively in the UK as they continue to both reduce total packaging and replace it with more sustainable options. For a sustainable brand, this is crucial. Sustainable brands don’t want their organic/recycled/low carbon products delivered nestled in plastic.
Low carbon delivery
It’s worth referencing that having your shopping delivered by Amazon is frequently lower carbon than going to the shops. This article in The Grocer from 2021 suggests that shopping for fashion, consumer electronics, books and grocery is lower carbon when completed online. Obviously this varies depending on your shopping habits, size of purchase etc. Online shopping likely won’t be lower carbon if the alternative is a walk to the corner shop. But if you were going to drive for just a few purchases, then it probably will be.
Amazon’s carbon efficiency has improved since 2021 so the comparison is likely to be more compelling now. Amazon tries to maximise efficiency in every part of their business. They optimise box sizes, packaging and delivery routes to enable them to deliver maximum products with minimal time/effort/carbon expenditure. Amazon have also begun to communicate the distance that their package will travel from the warehouse to their home, to enable decision-making based on the carbon impact of delivery alongside other factors.
Climate Pledge Friendly Badging
Amazon actively promotes sustainable brands within the platform. They feature within the Climate Pledge Friendly shop-within-a-shop, and may gain additional placements on competitor listings. These products also gain additional information explaining their sustainability credentials.
To qualify for this support, products must be certified by one of the myriad certifying bodies supported by the scheme. These include Soil Association Organic certification, Global Organic Textiles, Forestry Stewardship Council and many more. See the full selection of qualifying certification schemes here.
Alternatively, products can qualify by shipping less air/being more dense than their competitive set. This will enable them to qualify as ‘Compact by Design’ on the platform. There are clear benefits to creating compact products that can be stored and distributed more efficiently. The system for qualifying is less clear. But so long as your product listing includes all the important data about the number of units (including ‘servings’ or ‘uses’) and accurate weight and dimension measures, then Amazon’s system should automatically benchmark your product against the others in the category, and reward the most efficient with a ‘Compact by Design’ badge.
MinsterFB’s expertise in Sustainable brands on Amazon
As B Corp Amazon experts, we are highly motivated to help businesses with relevant sustainability credentials get their full benefit. We have supported several clients to achieve relevant Amazon badging quickly across a number of categories.
We also help clients reduce or remove the need for Amazon to wrap products in secondary packaging for delivery. Our account managers check which products qualify for the programs (SIOC and FFP) that enable products to ship with just an address label added. They can also advise on how to avoid additional Amazon packaging during product and packaging development. This makes a particular difference in relation to ‘prep’ (the addition of a third layer of packaging designed to protect vulnerable products as they travel through Amazon’s fulfilment centres and logistics). If Amazon determine that prep is necessary, there is a charge for the extra packaging so it’s best avoided.
Finally, our advertising team are adept at leveraging all the related sustainability keywords in our ad campaigns. This helps to ensure that your range is highly visible for conscious consumers.
Conclusion
In summary, whilst we understand people’s caution about selling sustainable brands on Amazon, we believe the benefits are far greater. We are committed to delivering the best possible sales line for the sustainable brands we support!