Sustainability has become a much bigger part of the eCommerce industry in recent years. But while plenty of brands are making changes behind the scenes, there is another question worth asking: Are we making it easy enough for our customers to make positive choices too?
That was one of the questions at the heart of the latest episode of the eCom@One podcast, where Richard Hill was joined by Oli Cook, one of the founders of Ekko.
Ekko is built around a simple idea: helping businesses give consumers more opportunities to take positive environmental action as part of their everyday spending. Rather than asking people to completely change their behaviour or go out of their way to make a difference, Ekko brings the opportunity directly into the customer journey.
Most people want to do more. So what’s stopping them?
It’s easy to assume that consumers don’t really care about sustainability when they’re shopping. People are looking at price, product, delivery times, reviews and everything else that comes with making a purchase. Surely sustainability is somewhere much further down the list?
Oli challenges that assumption in the episode.
He talks about research showing that 89% of consumers want to do more when it comes to climate action, while many believe that far fewer of the people around them feel the same way.
That’s an interesting disconnect.
Perhaps it’s not that people don’t care. Perhaps they simply don’t know what they can realistically do, or they don’t want to make their lives significantly more difficult in order to do it.
This is where the conversation gets particularly relevant for eCommerce. We already have the customer’s attention at checkout. They’re already making a decision. So rather than asking them to go somewhere else, sign up to something else or completely change their habits, what if we could simply make it easier for them to take a positive action at that moment?
That’s the thinking behind Ekko. For many brands, sustainability has traditionally been something communicated through their website, packaging, supply chain or company policies and all of those things matter, but Oli explains how Ekko takes a different approach by bringing sustainability directly into the checkout experience.
The idea is that customers can be given the opportunity to contribute towards environmental projects that have a clear connection to the purchase or the brand. That could mean supporting wildlife conservation, funding a local project or contributing towards an environmental initiative.
Importantly, the customer isn’t forced to take part. If they don’t want to engage, they can simply carry on with their purchase, but for the people who do want to make a difference, the opportunity is right there.
It’s a fascinating example of how technology can help bridge the gap between wanting to do something positive and actually being able to do it. There’s much more to the idea than simply adding a sustainability message to a checkout, which is something Richard and Oli explore in much more detail during the episode.
What does sustainability have to do with customer loyalty?
This is where the conversation moves beyond simply doing something environmentally positive, because when a customer chooses to support a project through a brand, they’re not just making a transaction, they’re becoming part of something.
Oli talks about the importance of the final moments of the customer journey and how powerful that experience can be. The checkout is often treated as a fairly functional part of eCommerce: add your details, pay and you’re done.
But what if that final interaction left the customer feeling genuinely good about the purchase they had just made? Not because the brand had shouted about how sustainable it was, but because the customer had been given the opportunity to do something meaningful.
That idea of creating a stronger emotional connection is one of the most interesting parts of the conversation, particularly when you consider just how competitive eCommerce has become.
Of course, as Oli is very clear about, sustainability isn’t going to save a bad product, you still need to sell something people want. But when customers are choosing between two brands offering something similar, those little differences can matter.
The brands that start now could have an advantage later
One of the points from the episode that really stands out is the idea that brands shouldn’t wait until sustainability becomes completely standard. Oli believes there is an opportunity for brands to start building their sustainability story now.
Not because it’s a clever marketing tactic, not because it’s something to tick off a list, but because genuine action takes time. If a brand starts making meaningful contributions today, in five years’ time it will have a history of impact behind it. It will be able to show what it has actually done rather than simply announcing a new commitment.
Start By Starting
That’s Oli’s simple and refreshing approach. If you’re not sure, just start by starting. You don’t have to transform every part of your business overnight. Sustainability is complicated and expecting a business to have everything figured out immediately isn’t realistic.
The important thing is to take the first step.
Want to hear the full podcast episode?
There’s plenty more packed into this episode, including some interesting examples of brands that have sustainability at the core of their operations, what the future of eCommerce could look like and whether every checkout should eventually have a carbon label.
Richard also puts Oli through a quickfire round, including one question about whether sustainability will still be a differentiator in five years’ time.
And, in a slight role reversal, Oli quizzes Richard too.
So if you’re interested in sustainability, customer behaviour and how eCommerce brands can make positive action easier for consumers, this is well worth a listen.
