How Teamwork Commerce is Helping Retail Become More Sustainable

Sustainability is no longer an option but a necessity for the retail industry. In the United States alone, retail generates over $2 billion in waste each year. Moreover, the industry is responsible for 4% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Adopting environmentally friendly practices benefits retailers not only in terms of the environment, but also in regard to brand reputation, operational efficiency, and meeting the changing expectations of environmentally conscious customers.

Technology has the potential to play a significant role in helping retailers to implement sustainable initiatives. From supply chain management to in-store services, retailers can deploy advanced solutions to reduce their environmental impact and make strides towards becoming more environmentally friendly in the long-term. These principles enable retailers to offer sustainable products, reduce waste, optimize resources, and effectively collaborate across the supply chain to drive positive environmental impact and meet the expectations of eco-conscious consumers.

Boost Sales While Cutting Waste 

Due to ineffective forecasting, some retailers frequently find themselves with an overabundance of a particular item. The additional emissions produced by manufacturing, transporting, and storing these excess of products can have a significantly negative impact on the environment. To forecast effectively, retailers must have real-time visibility into their inventory and wider retail operations. With a single click, retailers can gain dynamic control over their inventory with Teamwork Commerce‘s Inventory Management solution.

Beyond automation and real-time reporting, the state-of-the-art solution offers retailers personalized recommendations based on their historical data and ongoing trends. These tailored reports, based on real-time first-party data, allow retailers to order the right items at the right time and in the right quantity, ultimately increasing efficiency and lowering waste and their carbon footprint by avoiding overstocking, streamlining the supply chain, and promoting sustainable sourcing, all moving towards a circular economy.

Furthermore, retailers are implementing omnichannel strategies, integrating online and offline sales channels, with Teamwork Commerce’s Order Management solution. Using this technology, retailers can improve inventory allocation across channels, reduce redundant transportation and packaging, and boost overall operational efficiency. This technology also enables BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store) and BORIS (Buy Online, Return In-Store) — retail strategies, that provide customers with convenience while also contributing to sustainability efforts, by optimizing how customers interact with the supply chain.

Make A Difference for Sustainable Retail with Every Purchase

According to a recent survey, 63% of consumers are taking steps to change their lifestyle, including adopting greener purchasing habits, in order to become more sustainable. What does this mean for retailers? In addition to providing the best in-store customer experience, retailers must prioritize and focus on sustainability in their brick-and-mortar operations. They can accomplish this in a variety of ways, including the use of mobile point of sale (POS) solutions to promote greener decision-making for customers at every single touchpoint.

Retailers can employ Teamwork Commerce’s cutting-edge Mobile POS solution to visualize and segment customer purchasing habits across all sales channels. They can utilize this technology to reward customers for participating in sustainability strategies and campaigns, such as offering exclusive discounts to customers who bring their own recyclable shopping bags.

Furthermore, retailers can use this solution to create individual customer profiles and store order receipts in the cloud to promote paperless transactions. This also eliminates the need for customers to carry receipts when exchanging items or processing returns for customers.

Confronting The Returns Crisis

In 2022, approximately 16.5% of retail purchases in the US were returned. These products often end up in landfill sites rather than back on shelves. Retailers must take action to improve customer satisfaction and reduce returns, by optimizing their retail supply chain.

Order Management Systems (OMS) can be an effective tool to helping minimize the number of products that consumers return products. Returns are frequently caused by incorrect or incomplete orders, and Teamwork Commerce’s OMS can assist in reducing this by ensuring that customer orders are processed correctly, with the correct products, quantities, and shipping information. By incorporating features such as real-time inventory management, automated order processing, and shipping carrier integrations, retailers can take a significant step toward becoming a ‘greener’ brand.

Furthermore, by providing valuable insights into order and return data, an OMS can assist retailers in identifying trends, improving processes, and making data-driven decisions. By analyzing factors such as return reasons, product categories, and customer behavior, retailers can identify opportunities to reduce returns and improve the customer experience.

Teamwork Commerce is Revolutionizing Sustainability in Retail

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The retail industry plays a significant role in our daily lives, but its operations often come at a cost to the environment. The need for a sustainable retail and greener processes in the industry has become increasingly apparent as the impact of the industry becomes more pronounced.

Retailers generate substantial amounts of waste, consume vast amounts of energy, and contribute to pollution throughout the supply chain. By implementing sustainable practices, retailers can mitigate their environmental impact, creating a greener operation from a sustainable supply chain to storefront, and appealing to the preferences of today’s conscious consumer.