Survey finds growing disparities among e-tailers’ sustainability practices

A survey of the 50 top e-tailers operating in France has found there is a fast-growing gap between those oriented towards environmentally responsible practices and others, one third of those surveyed, who are lagging in this respect. And while the survey focuses on France, the international operations of many of those included mean it clearly reflects issues in many other countries too.

The third sustainable e-commerce survey carried out by Converteo assessed 50 e-tailers on 42 verifiable criteria. The criteria relate to the business model (assessing the availability of product resale, rental, repair options, etc.), delivery type (whether locker drop-off, soft mobility, slow delivery, etc.), shopping experience (returns limitations, environmental labelling, maintenance advice, etc.), procurement (returns packaging, CSR audits, bio-sourced materials, etc.), and to how environmental pledges are corroborated (certifications, publication of carbon footprint reports, signing of commitment charters, etc.).

For the first time, the survey noted a slowdown in the progress observed, which was limited to 41% of the criteria analysed. Above all, the survey identified a widening gap between the 10 most environmentally responsible e-tailers and the 10 at the ranking’s bottom end.

“Decathlon leads the ranking, with 79% of criteria in positive territory, ahead of Darty and Leroy Merlin (67%), while 15 e-tailers were below the 30% mark. The gap between the ranking’s top 10 and bottom 10 is especially wide in terms of business model sustainability (88% versus 28%), procurement (83% versus 23%), and governance (68% versus 5%),” stated Converteo.

In the fashion category, low-cost Chinese e-tailer Shein met only 16% of the sustainability criteria. “One of the lowest scores in the panel,” noted Converteo, underlining the contrast with Galeries Lafayette, which rose by 12 points to 56%. Temu, the other Chinese low-price e-tailer, didn’t rise above 10%.

Through its efforts in the circularity and traceability criteria, Sweden’s H&M gained 9 points in one year to reach 52%, while French apparel retailer Kiabi gained 8 points to reach 57%, chiefly thanks to its performance in the sourcing and CSR criteria.

In 10 years, Intersport has virtually closed the gap with Decathlon, growing from 50% to 77% of positive criteria. The survey also identified a few notable setbacks, such as those recorded by French event sales site Showroomprivé (-20%), and German sportswear brand Adidas (-17%).