Ethical eCommerce

Any right-thinking eCommerce vendor, that wants to trade for a long period, will need to employ moral, ethical, practices in dealing with their customers because that respect generates goodwill and loyalty which translates into profitability.

Ethics reflect the fundamental principles of a business in its environment and good practices in operations, finance, environment, personnel, sales and marketing.

When good conduct, respect and morals are applied at all levels of the organisation structure, it is a distinguishing quality that means the company is headed for success.

People will do business with firms that value and respect them. As Anita Roddick, founder of ethical beauty brand The Body Shop, once said, “Being good is good business.”

In eCommerce, ethical trading also applies to marketing manipulation, greenwashing and unsustainable business practices.

Research has shown that 70% of consumers want to consume more responsibly and 66% are willing to pay more for green products. So consumers are increasingly interested in buying in a way that minimises harmful impacts on the environment and others.

Sustainable, people-first and green business practices feed into ethical commerce and businesses operating in the eCommerce space can make positive progress in all three areas.

Sustainability

Sustainable commerce is on the rise and Noatum Logistics works closely with eCommerce customers to help them redesign business models and use greener transportation, logistics and packaging.

Our environmentally friendly packaging is increasingly popular, as customers reduce, reuse and recycle packaging, but too many eCommerce businesses over-package their shipped items, with unnecessary layers and too much single-use plastic.

People

Good marketing puts the customer first, but beyond the sale of goods is the wider network of people that eCommerce affects, including the factory workers that create the product, often without safe working or fair pay policies to protect them.

In putting people first, decisions need to become more inherently ethical and focusing solely on profit is simply not sustainable, if vendors want the best for all their stakeholders.

Noatum Logistics operates globally, with offices in 24 countries, including all the major sourcing regions. This means our customers have access to our local knowledge and experience of the most effective sources of supply.

Our PowerVIEW platform simplifies supply chain management for eCommerce vendors, providing visibility and control over their purchase orders and suppliers.

Environment

Reflecting increasing demand from consumers, ‘greenwashing’ – when an organisation spends more time and money on marketing themselves as environmentally friendly than on actually being environmentally friendly – is on the rise, with studies suggesting that 40% of ‘green business’ claims are misleading.

The red flags for consumers are vague statements, without including specifics and reliance on packaging strategies to give the impression of an ethical brand, with free colours, animal representation, environmental graphics and vague ‘natural’ terminology.

Noatum Logistics help shippers design efficient, low-carbon supply chains. With FREE online toolkits that forecast and monitor global supply chain emissions for every shipment, with the option to offset and environmental reporting that is approved to ISO14067 and  Carbon Footprint Standards. Noatum Logistics help ethical business succeed: with sustainable packaging and transport; local support and supplier vetting at key global sourcing regions; and environment modelling reporting and offsetting.