Sustainability:

'The ability to exist constantly.  In the 21st century, it refers generally to the capacity for the biosphere and human civilisation to co-exist.'

(Source: Wikipedia)

It's just one of the conundrums that Retail is grappling with in a topsy-turvy 2020, driven by consumer concern and changing attitudes towards the environmental impact of shopping behaviours.  As I have highlighted previously COVID-19 has accelerated the pace of change towards far higher volumes of digitally-based commerce, however, as the graphic below taken from this Bain & Company report shows, it appears uncertain as to whether sustainability as a generic theme has yet taken a firm hold beyond what could be termed as hyperbole:

Sustainability, as per the definition in our opening gambit, is a broad topic.  Many consumers will interpret it to mean ethical sourcing of materials and labour, the use of environment-friendly packaging and associated recycling commitments and careful monitoring of logistics miles but of course there are multiple additional stands to the argument, one of which throws into stark relief the dichotomy of the rise and rise of online e-Commerce and protection of the planet itself.  Love it or loath it, the comparatively novel (in the UK/Europe at least) phenomenon of Retail's Black Friday has, this year, further shone the spotlight on omnichannel digital purchasing and with it, the unnoticed or, perhaps, conveniently ignored, aspect of the sheer damage online shopping and subsequent direct delivery wreaks.  In this recently-published article - 'The Dirty Delivery Report; counting the carbon cost of online shopping' - the authors deliver some damning evidence as to the consequences of the expedited theme of online commerce as witnessed during the pandemic.  The bottom line is that, as the article states, "online shopping on Black Friday this year is predicted to release around 429,000 tonnes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere."  That's in the UK alone.  And that's really not particularly good for sustainability, is it?

Retail Fashion has long been associated with trail-blazing e-Commerce and, being in the vanguard, has had to contend with both brickbats and bouquets.  The speed of ordering, rapid home or point of choice delivery together with slick mobile and/or online order placement and customer service have often (though not always...) combined to create a compelling customer experience (CX), particularly among younger digital-native Millennial and Generation Z shoppers.  But manufacturing processes, standards, use of exploitative labour and ethical sourcing concerns as well as excessive delivery miles have been the obverse side of the coin for many.  2020's Black Friday sales will now not only further skew the previously traditional Retail Golden Quarter Christmas trading patterns but because of COVID-19, national lockdowns and the resulting rise in acceptance and adoption of digital shopping, they now also threaten one of the key themes - and needs - facing an already unsteady world.  Fashion is not a unique sub-sector in this, merely one strand of an industry which will find it hard to achieve balance - regardless of the numbers of new trees promised and (hopefully) planted, increasing consumer appetite for online e-Commerce together with physical delivery and the environmental damage it causes is a nightmare coupling.  Online shoppers have a tendency to purchase fewer items per transaction whilst at the same time returning more goods (for multiple reasons) which only further exacerbates the delivery vehicle/environmental damage ratio, hence the unseen/ignored ramification of the rise of e-Commerce.

I always try to imbue my posts on the subject of Retail in a post-COVID-19 world with at least some prospective technological and/or Data-based answers to operational challenges.  Sadly, as I sit typing this morning I can think of nothing immediate or indeed practical to suggest.  Fleets of electric delivery vehicles are coming but won't save the planet because electric vehicles still need to derive their energy from national power grids; we're promised drone deliveries but that prospect seems likely to blot out the sun, so thick in the skies will they be; and AI-endowed delivery robots are unlikely to have the capacity, range or, if they're any self-minded robot, the desire to traipse 20 miles on UK B-roads to deliver my £1.50's-worth of hand-sanitising gel in the middle of rural Britain.  Sustainability is a thorny issue which, despite its tribulations, cannot be ignored - I predict it will not only remain a key theme but will also become, in short-order, what Bain & Company calls 'a law of gravity'.  The rise in e-Commerce and the Omnidigital consumer will only continue - and with the genie now out of the bottle, there's certainly no turning back...