Home delivery has become a staple of the modern retail experience but it is unsustainable in two very different but equally important contexts. With the average cost per delivery said to be €22 in France and up to £20 in the UK, it is clearly unsustainable for retailers, who are making a loss on every order they fulfil. And, secondly, it’s unsustainable for the planet as multiple vans from different retailers and couriers are making countless trips to the same streets every day delivering one parcel at a time.
In this second instalment of our three-part Future Fulfilment series we explore the ultra-efficient and sustainability-focused fulfilment concepts that promise a better solution for retailers, consumers and the planet.
As part of this focus on Sustainable delivery solutions, GDR CEO Kate Ancketill talks to Retail Robotics CMO Marek Piotrowski about how its Delipop click-and-collect hub provides a greener, universal fulfilment solution for the city of the future. We also spotlight other leading global innovations that are bringing sustainable-thinking to the supply chain.
If you missed the first instalment of the Futuristic Fulfilment series: Solving the last mile delivery conundrum, you can find it here.
Retail Robotics on Delipop’s universal network
Other leading sustainable delivery solutions
Ohi
Ohi is an ecommerce fulfilment start-up that promises quick and carbon neutral delivery solutions for DTC brands.
To deliver on this promise, Ohi uses hyper-local micro-fulfilment centres to ensure deliveries only need travel a short distance to their final destination. All deliveries are also carried out by bike, e-bike and on-foot carriers to minimise their carbon footprint. All Ohi deliveries also either use minimal packaging, or come in a re-usable tote bag that can be returned to the courier once the shipment is unpacked.
Olive
Olive is a sustainability-focused delivery platform for fashion ecommerce that brings purchases from multiple brands to consumers’ doors in a single weekly shipment.
Once purchases have been made, Olive receives and consolidates all of the customer’s orders from that week, unboxes them and recycles the packaging. The orders are then taken to the customer in one delivery inside a package-free tote bag on a designated day, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the multiple deliveries.
Siklus
Siklus is an Indonesian service that delivers household refills to consumers via electric motorbike.
Through its app, customers can order refills of a range of household products, from body wash and laundry detergent to cooking oils and pet food, to be delivered to their doors. All they need is a refillable container, which will then be filled up at a price of up to 30% cheaper than that product’s usual retail price.
Algramõ
Algramõ 2.0 is a mobile vending machine placed on an electric vehicle that travels to customers’ homes whenever they need to refill their household products. Customers can book a delivery on the Algramõ app, scan the RFID tag on their bottle and dispense the amount of product they need. The correct amount will automatically be deducted from their bank account.
Launching initially as a mobile vending machine in Chile, Algramõ has worked with some of the biggest companies in the world including Unilever and Nestlé to explore other circularity-based fulfilment solutions.
Charrli
Charrli is a subscription service delivering personal care and home care products to customers in refillable containers. Much like the refillable grocery ecosystem Loop, Charrli collects and replenishes empty containers for customers when they’ve finished, sterilising and reusing the bottles up to 50 times.
The service has launched in London to begin with. Deliveries are made either by e-bikes or e-trucks, leading to Charrli using the tagline “fuel-free delivery”.
If you’re interested in any of the themes discussed in this article, get in touch with rachel@gdruk.com to find out how GDR’s consultancy, inspirational speaking, trends and sector reports can help drive positive change in your business.
Sponsored Post