The number of deliveries made by Amazon, Hermes and Royal Mail has doubled over the last 18 months. While retailers and couriers are beginning to develop more sustainable means of delivery, the current e-commerce uptake spells disaster for the environment. With a significant increase of vans on EU roads, tonnes of packages to dispose of and potentially return, targets to slash carbon emissions and reach net-zero by 2030 seem ambitious. 

 Often, innovations are only considered in the scope of problems a business faces, such as increasing e-commerce adoption. Topped with the application of a user centred design approach, this approach can reduce the scope of design consideration. Services designed only in the light of someone’s consumption behaviours will inevitably result in unintended consequences when scaled to millions or even billions.

We challenge companies to rethink the convenience that powers e-commerce deliveries. The goal is to approach e-commerce delivery design with a systemic view, to suggest new design principles, before climate urgency, legislations and customer behaviour impose them with force.

In this report, Sidney and the team analyse the e-commerce picture and provide solutions for brands wanting to design more sustainable services for both people and the planet.