How Environmentally Friendly is E-Commerce? An Exploration into Young Shoppers’ Perceptions and Preferences

Since its introduction as a purchasing options, e-commerce has become a well-established retail channel across different industries. Environmental sustainability, on its part, is also an important strategic issue companies cannot avoid to deal with and to properly manage. To date, research is mixed about the impact of e-commerce on the environment, in particular with respect to delivery practices; some scholars claim that e-commerce is more sustainable than traditional retail, while others support the opposite. Regardless of who is correct, much of the environmental effect of e-commerce is affected by shoppers’ perceptions and behaviors. Our study aims to explore the impact of shoppers’ perceptions of e-commerce and its impact on the environment; in particular, since its involvement with the digital context, the Millennials cohort has been chosen as unit of analysis. In order to do so, data were collected through an online survey. Though several studies are available in the environmental and logistics literature, to the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first that takes into account the role of the e-shopper in the retail supply chain.