Online Sellers Are Going Green

Online Market World just released its latest report, “How Green is eCommerce?” and found that both B2B and B2C online sellers are increasingly adopting environmentally friendly business practices. The survey can be downloaded free from http://www.onlinemarketworld.com/index-2008.php?page="content/greenReg."

The survey, which ran from January 15, 2008 to March 15, 2008, attracted feedback from 379 respondents representing virtually every industry type. The bulk of respondents came from retailers, technology companies, and advertising/PR/marketing agencies. Company sizes ranged from under $5 million to more than $500 million with the bulk of respondents representing companies selling $50 million or less per year.

The results of the survey show that a number of companies are not only selling green products but buying them as well. Some are going so far as to cooperatively design products or packaging with suppliers.

The main two objectives among companies of all sizes is to reduce waste and energy consumption costs although other reasons such as corporate imaging, customer satisfaction, the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and other objectives were also mentioned.

Some companies surveyed have formal programs in place that include written policies. Others have adopted informal practices which can be a simple as placing recycle bins in the copy room or break room.

The report discusses survey results in-depth, often citing commonalities and differences between companies of different sizes or within different industries. It also includes the aggregate responses of survey respondents.

According to Online Market World executives, the purpose of the report is to provide a basis from which online sellers can compare themselves to others in their revenue category or industry. Of the major groups surveyed (retailers, technology companies and agencies), technology companies claimed to be the most aggressive in their overall adoption and expansion of green programs. Agencies claimed to be the least green of all industry categories represented